Dark Angel
by ReverieNoblesse
Summary: Crimson blood was oozing out of the fresh wound. One word was carved onto the faces of the three World Nobles – Saint Roswald, Saint Charloss and Saint Shalulia. A word that left the surrounding Marines gaped in horror. It was a humiliation to those stuck-up astronauts. 恥 Haji 'Shame' was the word. Warning: Strong OC
1. Prologue

Chapter One - Prologue

The **World Nobles**, also known as the Celestial Dragons, were descendants of twenty of the Twenty One Kings who established what was now known as the World Government.

800 years ago, twenty-one kings came together to 'build' what was the current workings of the world. Their descendants later went on to become the World Nobles. Though, one clan of these kings, the Nerfertari was not considered as a World Noble because they had refused to leave their kingdom. As time passed, arrogance and cruelty displayed by the World Nobles had put them in a bad light, making people to fear and despise them. They constantly abused their power and looked down on the people below them. They were so disconnected to the point that they wore resin bubbles over their head to prevent them from breathing the air of the common people. Whenever one appears, people instantly bow as to not upset them, with the exception of the guards, servants, and slaves that are alongside them.

The World Nobles claimed to possess '_the blood of this world's creators'_ which was their sole justification for their actions. This single fact allowed them to utterly disregard any facet of law or society that did not serve their own interests. They have no regard for Justice, at best paying it lip service if at all, and were above any retribution for their actions (to the extent that they cannot be punished by the law, anyway).

Yet, one clan of these World Nobles did not share the same '_We're superior'_ belief as the rest – the **Cadis clan**. Disdained by the actions of the Nobles, this particular clan started to pull away and isolate themselves. Cutting off all associations, the Cadis clan have lived their life in a low-profile to the extent of shifting their location to an uninhabited island away from the rest.

Their attempt to stay a low-profile worked so well that after 700 years of isolation with minimum contacts, rumours about the Cadis clan dying out were more or less confirmed despite any concrete evidences. Were the Cadis clan totally wiped out? No one knew the truth…

* * *

The Cadis clan.

They were the only clan who didn't develop a superior complex for the past hundreds of years.

The so-called superiority that the rest of the World Nobles had displayed was such an eyesore to the Cadis clan that they decided to end all ties with the other Nobles. Not only that, they had relocated themselves.

_**Lukedonia**_. It was what they named the uninhabited island they had chosen to relocate on. Due to a potent electromagnetic field and the never-ending mist, the island that they had resided in was undetected. Even to ships nearby. Their perfect hiding location was the main factor that toned down their presence such that people believed they were all wiped out.

It was to the Cadis clan's advantage anyway.

Unknown to all, the Cadis clan was of a special bloodline. Unlike the other World Nobles who have shown absolutely no physical combat abilities whatsoever, the members of the Cadis clan were natural users of Paramecia class Devil Fruit. Without having to eat the devil fruit, they were gifted with _**Akuma no yona me 'Demon eyes'**_(signature crimson eyes that a Cadis had)_, _it granted the users with natural abilities. Users were able to pick up subtle details and track fast-moving objects before finally giving some amount of predictive capabilities to the user, allowing them to see the image of an attacker's next move from the slightest muscle tension in their body and counter-attack or dodge without any wasted movement. More advanced ability included mind-reading and mind-control. Imagine if this was to be made known to the world… It was better for them to stay hidden and keep their bloodline as a secret.

Yet such power came at a price. To bear such raw powers burdened one's body such that a Cadis would not live longer than 45 years old. One's life span would also shorten every time he or she used this power.

So to the rumours of the Cadis clan dying out, they were partly true as the members of the Cadis clan were slowly dwindling as hundreds of years passed.

As of now, there was only a lone heir of the Cadis clan…

* * *

A/N: I know it's a bit short but next chapter will be longer. Anyway, it's my first fanfic. So I really appreciate how you think! Please review! Thanks!

**Akuma no yona me 'Demon eyes' are similar to Sharingan** (a Cadis' eyes are just red in colourless and without pupils). The user is able to:

-Pick up on subtle details.

-Track fast-moving objects before finally giving some amount of predictive capabilities to the user, allowing them to see the image of an attacker's next move from the slightest muscle tension in their body and counter-attack or dodge without any wasted movement

-Mind-reading

-Mind-control to a certain extent

Just in case you guys didn't catch the idea, **Lukdeonia** is the island the Cadis lived on.


	2. Reminiscing

Chapter Two – _Reminiscing_

**Mock Town**

A haggard looking man wearing a purple button up was dragging his feet as he wandered around the town. He had light brown eyes and curly salt and pepper hair. He looked tired and stumbled wearily every once in a while.

Fuschida Shinsui had never felt so depressed in life. The holiday trip that he and his girlfriend had gone should have ended with happiness. He had planned it all. With the money he had saved, he set aside part of it to reside at the beautiful Tropical Hotel. And at night, after their walk at the beach, he would present his beloved the diamond ring that he had bought and asked her to marry him. He had it all planned out. Everything was running smoothly like what he had planned. When his girlfriend had agreed to marry him, Shinsui felt like he was the happiest person in the world…

Too bad, the happiness he felt was short-lived. It all came crashing down the next morning when he woke up to find out that his girlfriend had gone missing. Along with the diamond ring Shinsui had proposed with, the money that he had saved were gone too. He thought it was just him imagining so he spent hours waiting for his girlfriend to return back to the hotel room. But it didn't happen. He felt like being slapped in the face. He was fooled. The woman that he loved tricked him.

Running a hand through his messy hair, Shinsui sighed. It was a disaster. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head upwards. Unknowingly, the rain that had lasted for the past hour came hitting him on the face. He stood there for quite some time to sort out his mind. What happened earlier on kept replaying in his mind. The woman that he loved for nearly a year… Her laughter… Her perfume…

Bringing his hands up to slap himself out of his depressing thoughts, his eyes scanned the shops located near the pathway. Loud cheering and talking could be heard from the pubs and the eateries. Shinsui couldn't help but pity himself again. Out of nowhere, his attention was caught by a nameless shop.

Standing in front of the wooden doorway of the nameless shop, Shinsui couldn't help but feel attracted to this place. It seemed that there was something calling out for him. In all honesty, the depressed man just couldn't see what was so special about the place. Two old street lamps stood on either side of the door, faintly lighting the heavy looking wooden entrance. A small sign was above the door.

_Cafe/bar_.

"Should I…" Shinsui hummed and pursed his lips. He was contemplating whether to enter or not. Taking a deep breath, he entered the nameless café/bar. He walked deeper into the café/bar and looked around in wonder.

The café/bar seemed to be divided into two sections judging from the colour tone used to decorate the nameless shop. At the left side of the shop, a lighter colour tone could be seen. The walls at this side were painted white in colour. There were round tea tables all around the room, with comfy looking turquoise armchairs around them, varying from two to four per table. This section of the café/bar looked homey. At the other side of the café/bar, the walls were painted in black. There was a white bar counter with six cobalt bar stools. As for this section of the café/bar it gave off a mysterious vibe. From his observations, there were more people sitting at the armchairs enjoying their hot coffee or tea and only two people sitting at the bar with their alcoholic drinks. This was so because it was still in the afternoon. The bar section of the shop would probably be more crowded when the skies darken.

"Good afternoon." Shinsui was brought to a stop to his observation and jmped around when someone spoke from behind him only to gape. The woman who managed to startle him stood at 5'10 with an elegant lithe build. Her sky blue hair with white highlights were tied into a thick braid which fell over her shoulders, and playful fringe fell to the side, framing her heart-shaped face. What stood out from her light hair and skin tone was her scarlet-red eyes. Shinsui had never seen anyone with such a striking eye colour. On a closer look, there was a diamond cross earring dangling on her left ear lobe and three black ear studs on both her left cartilage and right ear lobe. The woman's slender yet curvy figure was clearly highlighted thanks to her outfit. Wearing a black happi coat which hanged loosely at her arms, it revealed her bare shoulders and a white tube. The happi coat was tightened by a white sash at the waist to highlight her slim waist. Ripped denim shorts that she wore stopped right below her butt giving everyone a great sight of her long pale legs and her black stiletto heels.

"G-good afternoon," The heart-broken man stuttered out.

"I am Ren. Welcome," The woman nodded her head at him before continuing, "Please, take a seat." The bluenette showed him over to a table for two and he took a seat. He frowned when he realised the woman disappeared, only to jump in his place a moment later when the female waiter appeared practically out of nowhere.

"Here you go. The drinks are on the house for today. You look like you need a little pick me up" Shinsui looked down at the coffee she had placed along with a properly folded towel on the table.

"But I didn't even…"

"Relax," the woman spoke and nodded her head in reassurance as she stepped away from the table. "I'm sure you will enjoy your drink."

* * *

If one paid attention to the isolated corner of the pathway, he or she could see an interesting café/bar. It was nameless. If one bothered to check the place out he or she could find a captivating young woman who owned the nameless café/bar.

Cadis D. Reverie, also known as Ren was wiping the bar with her white washcloth. The crimson eyed beauty had founded this place a year ago. Initially she didn't know what to name her shop that was why she left it nameless. After a while, she chose not to do so to keep her shop's uniqueness. She enjoyed serving her drinks for the daily bustle of customers. It had started rough in the beginning. Situated at an isolated corner with no name for the shop often made people overlooked her café/bar. However as time went by, one by one stumbled to her café/bar by accident and slowly her loyal customers began to pile up. They mainly consisted of the locals; every now and then there would be a few pirates who enjoyed their drinks in peace. Well, probably because most pirates visited the pub situated right at the entrance of Mock Town and only few noticed her café/bar anyway. It was a good way for Ren to collect information. From the gossips and small talks –

This was when the door swung open, making the little bell jingle merrily. In stumbled a fatigue looking man. He looked tired from the way he stumbled into the café/bar. After serving the man a cup of hot coffee, Ren went back to her counter and watched as the man took a sip and leaned his head against the back of the armchair. He looked like he was shedding years' worth of sadness and stress as he relaxed against the comfortable chair. Ren had left the man to his own devices, content with the proud feeling of being able to help another person in need. Slowly, she gazed into nothingness and she found herself begin to reflect on her life so far…

Cadis D. Reverie was fully aware of her clan's status as a World Noble though it wasn't a status to be proud of seeing how the World Nobles treated the commoners as trash. She would rather die than be associated with those arrogant scums. The slender beauty also knew of her clan's special bloodline and curse being not able to live longer than 45 years… All the Cadis before her dad didn't live any longer than that age. That kind of explained why the clan only left her dad after her mum passed away after giving birth to Ren.

Cadis D. Raizel was an extremely handsome and elegant individual. Like all Cadis, he had the signature scarlet-red eyes and jet black hair. It was obvious that Ren had inherited her red eyes from her raven dad. Ren didn't know what her mum looked like. There were no pictures of her mum. It was quite obvious to the child that her dad had hidden all the things related to her mum. Perhaps this was the way her dad coped with his wife's death. Raizel had a stoic and regal demeanour. Being a man with few words, Ren's dad didn't mention much of his wife. Being a single dad, Ren knew that her dad loved her with all his heart. After all, they only had each other seeing that they were the only Cadis left. It was her dad who played both roles when raising her up…

The both of them had been living in Lukedonia without any contact with the outside world, excluding their occasional trips to a nearby town to stock up their food, books and other resources. As far as Ren could remember, the both of them had spent most of their time in their huge library with Raizel reading and teaching his only daughter.

Ren could still recall her fifth birthday clearly. She was reading her last book in their clan's library when she was interrupted. A loud crash was heard before she could feel the tremors caused by the collision of something with the ground. Who knew that it was a large meteorite? It was so enormous that it left a long trail and a crater behind, effectively destroying nearly half of their forest in Lukedonia. The weird thing when Ren finally stumbled her way to the meteorite site was the sight of a palm-sized weird looking fruit. It was only till her dad's observation did she knew that it was a devil fruit. Seeing as it was her birthday, Ren's dad had given her a choice to eat it or not but certainly he had informed his daughter the dangers of eating one. And so, Ren had ate the nasty fruit and received a diamond cross earring as her birthday present for that year.

To Ren's surprise, the devil fruit that she had found was a Zoan and Logia class Devil Fruit. It was rare, perhaps the only dual class Devil Fruit in the world. It enabled her to shift into a dragon-human hybrid. She could also extend large black wings that resembled a bat's with auburn patagium (wing membrane).When she used her ability, her scarlet eyes would turn dark with golden sclera. Addition to that, Ren was granted the ability to control the wind element. Well, it took years for the bluenette to discover her devil fruit ability.

As Ren grew older, her training sessions increased, ranging from basic exercises to strengthen her, to practicing with the abilities of her devil fruit and Cadis clan's 'Demon eyes'. Despite being so young and the insane training sessions, Ren had fun learning from her dad. Even without her mum, her dad was sufficient for Ren. Her wish was to live with her dad like this forever…

Coming to this point, the 16 year old beauty tighten her hold on her washcloth. Her wish that she had made would never happen as the curse for their bloodline had claimed her dad's life when she was 13. Well, it wasn't that bad since her dad passed away in his sleep peacefully… As expected, at the age of 45, his body had finally deteriorated to a point of no return…

It was painful for Ren to witness her dad's last moment. The man that she always looked up upon was so pale on his bed that it felt like numerous knife stabbing at her heart. Though she knew that it would happened long ago due to their clan's curse, she couldn't help but burst into tears. For three consecutive days, Ren stood there unmoving at all. It was the fourth day when Ren finally came to her senses. Ren had buried his dad at their very own cemetery with the rest of the Cadis. It was the sixth day when Ren made up her mind to leave Lukedonia to explore the world. Well, there was no point staying in the mansion all alone as she might as well travel around. And that was her plan…

Taking a harvest duffle bag that was passed down over the generations (a special one that had extension ability), she had packed sufficient necessities such as clothes and some important books like medical books and maps. Being able to grow wings on her back had also enabled Ren to travel around with ease without having to own her boat.

She had become a bounty hunter in the first two years of her journey. It came to a point that she had earned the title of 'Dark Angel', probably was because of her dark eyes with sclera and her bat-like wings. Her expenses all came from the rewards she had claimed from the Marines. If it wasn't for the reward, she wouldn't bother to associate with the Marines; after all she found them rather incompetent… When the blue head just turned 15, she had put a stop to her bounty hunter career and had chosen to reside in Mock Town to open her very own café/bar. And her decision that she had made a year ago led her to this situation…

* * *

A/N: A little background on the OC Cadis D. Reverie. Well, some references are from Noblesse manhwa like the name Cadis and Lukedonia. Anyway, Ren will be meeting the Straw Hats soon… Wait for it! Rmb to review! Much thanks!

Just to summarise Ren's abilities ( For now. Just a spoiler: there will certainly be new skills added to the list after the 2 years arc) …

The Cadis clan were of a special bloodline – natural users of Paramecia class Devil Fruit.

**Akuma no yona me 'Demon eyes' are similar to Sharingan** (a Cadis' eyes are just red in colourless and without pupils). The user is able to:

-Pick up on subtle details.

-Track fast-moving objects before finally giving some amount of predictive capabilities to the user, allowing them to see the image of an attacker's next move from the slightest muscle tension in their body and counter-attack or dodge without any wasted movement

She's unable to do mind-controlling (a partial one) yet.

**Zoan and Logia class Devil Fruit: Elemental dragon-human hybrid (Wind)**

-Dark pupils with golden sclera whenever she started to control the elements or when she extended her wings out

-Capable of controlling wind

-Large bony wings that resemble a bat's, with ripped tips. Black webbed digits with auburn patagium (wing membrane)


	3. Good Day

Chapter 3 – _Good Day_

_Previously_

_She had become a bounty hunter in the first two years of her journey. It came to a point that she had earned the title of 'Dark Angel', probably was because of her dark eyes with sclera and her bat-like wings. Her expenses all came from the rewards she had claimed from the Marines. If it wasn't for the reward, she wouldn't bother to associate with the Marines; after all she found them rather incompetent… When the blue head just turned 15, she had put a stop to her bounty hunter career and had chosen to reside in Mock Town to open her very own café/bar. And her decision that she had made a year ago led her to this situation…_

* * *

**Mock Town. **

**Nameless café/bar**

"KYA!"

Ren's musings were interrupted by the sound of a feminine shriek. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realise the presence of the intruders. Ren shifted her position at the back of the bar to get a clearer look at her new unpleasant customers, but still managed to conceal her presence. To her distaste, it was a rowdy group of men. Considering the safety of her customers, she suppressed the urge to bolt right from her position and kick them all out. Instead, she settled down for the moment to watch the scene play out. For certain, she would take serious actions against them if any harm was to come to her customers.

There were seven of them in total, of which six of them had stationed themselves throughout her shop intimidating her poor customers. Her sharp scarlet eyes lingered to the last man. He was a middle aged man with chestnut hair and dark eyes. His nose was also pointy and he had a bluish skin. He wore a long red captain's coat. Beneath his coat, he wore a blue shirt and had a green sash around his waist. He had a white cravat around his neck and wore dark blue pants. It was obvious that the new intruders were pirates and this man was the captain. What interested Ren most was said man's left arm. It was transformed into a cannon.

'_Heh… So that guy is a devil fruit user eh… If it's like this…_' Ren thought as wheels in her mind began to spin at high speed to come out with a plan. Discreetly, she crept away from her current position to sneak upstairs to her bedroom. No one had noticed Ren as she sneaked away; she was like a speck of dust in a shadowed corner. Making as little noise as possible, Ren tiptoed swiftly upstairs and grabbed a pair of sea stone cuff that she had collected over her two years journey as a bounty hunter. During her pirate hunting days, she had encountered numerous devil fruit users. And from her apprehension with them, Ren had learnt that it was always wise to have sea stone cuffs with her to avoid sticky situation.

When Ren was upstairs retrieving her cuffs, the pirates began to exercise their threats…

Aiming his left cannon arm, the captain blasted a shot to destroy the shelves of alcohols behind the bar. With a loud _boom_, he made sure he had everyone's attention before bellowing as follow.

"Listen here! I am Firearm Kioshi with a bounty of 65,000,000 beli!" Kioshi paused slightly and smirked in triump as he saw people started to cower in fear. Kioshi's confidence spiked higher from feeding on his victims' pathetic reactions. The bounty for Firearm Kioshi wasn't for a show. He was ruthless and sadistic. Being able to transform his limbs to any firearms easily thanks to his devil fruit, he had won many fights against the Marines. He was highly confident in his own powers. To him, a bounty represented a person's fighting level. And his bounty being higher than average to begin with based on Grand Line standards only made him consider himself as destined for greatness. "Me and my men are running low on supplies. Now if you know your own limit, start moving your ass and fetch us some!"

The previous chatter grew quiet; an eerie silence rolled leaving the residents on edge. The civilians in the bar had yet to budge a muscle – some were paralysed with fear and some refused to obey the command. Kioshi's expression grew darker and darker. Eventually, like a strained rubber band, he snapped. Grabbing the throat of a woman near him, he tightened his hold and lifted the sobbing woman in the air. Switching his aim of his left cannon arm straight at the woman's face, he spoke in anger. "If you guys fail to comply with my command, I'm going to take out all of you. Starting from this woman…"

At hearing this, the woman's eyes widened in fright and struggled violently against Firearm Kioshi's choke. Her whimpers amplified and tears began to gush out like a running tap. She could feel her limit reaching. She needed to regain her air supply. She did not want to die. The sniffling woman could feel herself begin to slip into unconsciousness. Her eyes were slowly rolling back. Black spots were appearing in her visions… Suddenly, she was on her feet and was slammed against the wall. She screamed in pain. Despite her current predicament and the immense pain of her back, she felt herself loosen a bit and felt relieved. She was that close to reaching death's doorstep… But it was temporary as the captain started to bark at her.

"You're so loud. What? Are you screaming with pain by just that? I'm going to kill you after playing around with you at my leisure, so what are you screaming already with just that much for? At least I can look forward to how much you'll cry out." Unknown to the woman, Kioshi shifted his left arm back and started to trace his fingers along the sides of the terrified woman. With his right hand still connected to her neck, the captain began to eye the woman in front of him. Eyes darken in lust, the self-proclaimed 'Big-Time Rookie' felt his crotch hardening. The rest of the civilians in the room had already started to surrender their belongings to his henchmen. Even when witnessing the scene before them, they made no move to try to rescue the maiden as they were afraid of the captain's wrath afterwards. Ignoring the people in the room, Firearm Kioshi decided to get a taste of the woman. Lowering his head, he angled himself and began to kiss the woman's neck. Feeling his hot breath against her skin, the whimpering woman could feel her stomach churned in disgust. Sobs that escaped from her only seemed to fuel Kioshi's eagerness as his left hand began to creep under her shirt to cup her assets.

After squeezing her bosom and teasing her slightly harden nipples, Kioshi began to slide his hand into her knee-length skirt. Before Kioshi could help himself to finger the chick, he was interrupted by a pat on the shoulder. Irritated by the sudden intrusion before he could reach the climax of his foreplay, the captain turned to face the person and yapped, "What?!"

* * *

Ren had hidden the cuff in her sleeves before making her way to save her poor customers. Clicking her heels, Ren stood behind the captain who was too busy leaving kiss marks on the woman to realise her presence. Something in Ren's stomach stirred. She never did like to see overconfident men and women strut in front of her face. In this case, overconfident men who forced themselves on women. She always got the urge to put an end to it – always. Restraining herself to lash out in resentment, Ren plastered a seductive smile and pat on his shoulder to stop him from moving on to the next base.

"What?!"

'_Ah… He's pissed off at me for interrupting his moment…_' Ren kept her flirty smile on as she observed how Kioshi's snarl stopped. His frown loosened. Irritation that was clearly shown on his face dissolved to turn to a lustful one. She could feel his eyes scanning her. Starting from her long legs, his eyes glided slowly upward, lingering longer at her ample breast before settling on her face. Closing the gap between them, Ren rested one hand on Kioshi's chest and the other tracing along his pronounced abs. Lifting her eyes to his, Ren could see his desire for her swirling in his dark eyes. "I am the humble owner of this nameless bar. What can I do for you, Mister Captain?" Ren purred as she pressed herself against his hard chest.

Taken aback by her blunt demeanour Firearm Kioshi couldn't help but marvel her courage. Releasing his hold on the terror-stricken woman, he turned fully to face the blue-hair beauty before him. With the presence of a sexier woman, he was pleased with this new arrival and had long forgotten the woman he released seconds ago.

'_Hook, line and sinker' _Ren was sniggering silently when she saw the poor woman was released while still keeping her flirty act up. Thanks to his stupidity, Firearms Kioshi's slow thinking didn't alert him of Ren's hidden motives. '_Now to get the show started…_'

"Keh, yes!" He beamed with an excess amount of enthusiasm and snaked his left hand around Ren's waist to pull her close, right into his arms. Twirling her crimson strand with his right hand, Kioshi brought the strand to his lips and place a kiss on it. He tugged the same strand behind her ears and leaned down to her right ear to whisper his need. "Ah, YOU are all I need." The captain then blew into her ear to tease her before pulling back to face her. Ren bit her lower lips and started to flutter her eyelashes frivolously. Pretending all along, Ren advanced slightly to taunt him.

"Hmm…," She faked her moan before continuing, "T-then, I hope being rough will suit your taste. Does it?" Clearly mistaking her meaning, the pirate before her began to fantasize on Ren who was kneeling and being whipped by him. The mental image spurred his desire to new heights as he could feel little 'Kioshi' begging to be release from the pressure.

Taking advantage of the pirate's daze, Ren sneakily withdrew her sea stone cuff from her sleeves. Snapping the cuff shut at his right wrist, effectively locking away his devil fruit abilities, Ren immediately separated from their hold. At an inhumane speed, Ren lifted her leg and sent a kick to his jaw before anyone could react.

Registering the sharp pain at his jaw, Firearm Kioshi cradled his jaw with his right hand. He signalled his crew to stay on hold to let him deal with the situation, "You bitc- " His cursing paused as his attention was diverted by the sight of a cuff hanging on his wrist. Confusion dissolved into complacency. "Bitch! Do you think that sort of thing would restrict me-" He cut himself off when he saw Ren's well pleased look instead of a panicked one. His confusion slapped him in his face and his lips were pulled to a grim line when Ren erupted in laughter.

"Do you not recognise the cuffs? They are able to cancel out Devil Fruit abilities and weaken Devil Fruit users…" Ren stopped her laughter to soothe the pain in her stomach. Wiping her tears away for laughing too hard, Ren did the unexpected as she zoomed to the back of the captain in a blink of an eye. Kicking the back of Kioshi's knee, Ren brought him to his knees and quickly choke him at the back of his neck, cutting his voice off. Giving a _'move even a muscle and I will kill your captain'_ look to warn each of his crew, Ren turned to her customers to address them. "Operating hours are now over. All drinks are on the house for today. Dear customers, please make your way out for I need to clean up the mess in here." She narrowed her gaze at the pirates before giving a reassuring smile to her customers and continued. "Please pardon me for my rudeness. I do hope you will visit us again."

As if on cue, all of her customers began to scramble to exit the place except one. Shinsui, the heart-broken man, couldn't bear to leave the woman alone but was helpless against the pirates so he settled to witness the scene through a window.

Sighing in relief, Ren released her hold and gazed at the widely-opened door. Glad that her customers had all evacuated and no longer in danger, Ren turned to face the same captain who stood menacingly before her. Noticing a bulge in his pants, a sudden idea came to her mind. Grinning innocently, Ren connected her heels with Kioshi's balls sending shockwaves throughout his body. Eyes bulging out in disbelief at her actions, the self-proclaimed 'Big-Time Rookie' cupped his jewels and fell to his knees in pain. Was she killing two birds with one stone? Because not only did Ren render Kioshi useless for the moment, she also managed stunned the rest of the crew. While the rest of the crew were still registering what had happened and pitying their captain for his mishap, the bluenette slithered around to knock them out one by one.

To Shinsui who was witnessing the scene, he also pitied the captain for getting kick in his balls. His worry for the blue headed owner seemed to be redundant as he watched Ren's movements. She was like a dancer on a stage. Every move was so elegant and smooth. No wasted movement was made. From every punch to the jaw to every powerful kick she delivered to the way she glided from one pirate to another to… Everything happened so rapidly that after what it seemed to be mere seconds to Shinsui, the six henchmen were knocked out cold with bruises beginning to form on their skin. He was dumfounded at the sight that met his eyes.

The pain that Firearm Kioshi felt at his manhood had started to diminish. Straightening his back, he began to struggle onto his feet. However, the sight of his crew being completely wiped out by a lean woman had weakened his knees and he fell onto his ass. The crew, who he thought were strong to annihilate any threat, were being kicked in the ass by a mere woman. The arrogance mask that he had been wearing completely cracked as he trembled in fear. With eyes widening in incredulity, the 'Big-Time Rookie' voiced out before he could stop himself.

"W-who are you?"

Creeping closer to the terrified man sprawled on the ground, Ren looked down at the captain with her glowing red eyes. "You are unworthy of asking questions." Ren's declaration seemed to be too much for the lone pirate. With a roll of his eyes, Firearm Kioshi lost it and fainted. As of now, the seven unwelcomed guests were all knocked out cold, of which six of them sustained serious injuries when Ren had struck them like punching bags. Lifting her right hand and directing it to the pirates' direction, Ren's eyes darken and a golden sclera was formed. Loathing the presence of these pirates in her lovely bar, Ren swiped her hand, conjuring a crescent-shaped structure of compressed air which sent them flying out of her door, landing several feet away. All seven pirates landed close to each other like she predicted.

As eyes began to lighten to a familiar red colour, Ren spoke, "Remember, a gentleman do not raise a finger against a lady. And if a lady is reluctant to comply with your wish, you should not force her. May this be a lesson for you guys…" Scratching the back of her neck, she then added on in amusement. "Ma, but it's not like you guys can still hear me… Anyway, good day." After addressing the unconscious pirates, the sixteen year old bluenette began to make her way back to her sanctuary.

Pausing right at her doorstep, Ren finally acknowledge Shinsui's presence. "Ah, dear customer you are still here. Seeing as I have managed to put up a wonderful impromptu performance, it calls for a celebration doesn't it? Please take a sit inside. Drinks are on the house today..."

* * *

The once haggard-looking man could still feel the adrenaline rush after witnessing Ren's counterattacks. This enchantress before him had managed to knock out seven men who was much muscular than her without a sweat. Not only that, she even managed to somehow manipulate the ground to trap the pirates. '_So she is a devil fruit user?_' Shinsui could only gape in awe at the owner's strength. It was a landslide win for her. The pirates couldn't even land a finger on her.

"-ake a sit inside. Drinks are on the house today…"

Hearing Ren's sadistic words, he snapped out of his thoughts and sweat dropped at her sadistic personality. Following right behind the long-legged belle, Shinsui could only hope the drinks were able to calm him down and digest the day's events.


	4. Marine Admiral Draws Near

*Water 7 Arc

Chapter 4 – _Marine Admiral Draws Near_

**On a certain uninhabited island right after their encounter with Foxy**

"Haaa!" exclaimed the toddler-sized human/reindeer hybrid as he sped up his pace, leaving the rest of the crew in confusion. Chopper was heading toward the rock in the middle of the plain field. And there laid what it seemed to be a huge mushroom to Luffy. Furious that Chopper was planning to eat that particular mushroom by himself, the Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates followed the reindeer as well.

But it wasn't what the two of them expected. Instead of a huge mushroom that they thought they could have a taste, what stood behind the huge rock was a man. He was incredibly tall, slim and muscular. The 10'0 man had black, curly hair cut to chin length that fans out at the tips, tanned skin and an altogether lean, long built. Said man was wearing a white buttoned-up vest with standing collar over a long-sleeved purple shirt and matching white trousers and shoes. The most ridiculous thing was that the giant with the sleep mask over his eyes was sleeping while in a standing position.

"Are you okay Chopper?"

"What happened!? "

"What's wrong Luffy?"

As the rest of the crew gathered near the huge rock to see what the commotion was about, Robin's eyes widened in shock and fear. She gasped. The slender archaeologist took few steps back but before she knew what was happening, her weak legs gave up on her causing her to collapse onto the ground. Still in distress, she was catching her breath trying to steady her increasingly beating heart while keeping her eyes fixed on the said man. Robin's unexpected reaction had caught the attention of her nakamas and that had raised their alertness to the newcomer.

"There, there," started the man in white in a lazy manner," Let's not jump to conclusion, guys. I'm not here under orders. The weather was nice, so I was taking a walk. "Hoping what he had said could calm the Straw Hats down as he had no bad intentions toward them.

Zoro who was high on alert started to unshield one of his katana from its sheath questioned with an eyebrow raised," Orders? Who do you work for?" The rest of the crew like Zoro were already in defending position as it was weird seeing Robin being so afraid of the man before them.

"A Marine." Robin answered Zoro's question after recovering from her shock though fear was still evident from hearing her slight quivering voice. "Marine Headquarters Admiral Aokiji." At the mention of the marine position the man known as Aokiji had, shock was registered on all of their faces. Robin tried to steady her breathing again and continued," Within the Marines, only three men have attained the rank of Admiral – Akainu, Aokiji and Kizaru. The three powerful individuals only answer to one man who is the head of the Marines, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. They are the most powerful combat force of the World Government. And he's one of them."

At the end of introduction by Robin, the rest couldn't help but felt bewildered, wondering why such a high positioned Marine was doing right here. Though Aokiji's reputation as an Admiral was kind of destroyed immediately when he started flirting with the orange haired navigator…

"Hey, just chill out, guys. " Aokiji raised both of his hands in surrender to calm down Sanji who was overly agitated over the Admiral's attempt to flirt with the chef's Nami-swan. "Honestly. I think you were the ones not listening. I said I was just out for a stroll. Don't get so worked up." Raising his right hand to cup his chin, Aokiji tilted his head slightly to the right. "Besides, you're… those guys, right?" This made Luffy and Chopper wondered what he meant only to be dismissed by an excuse of forgetting it.

Aokiji's declaration of his Marine motto as 'Lazy Justice' and his laid back attitude made those present on the scene to question his position as a Marine Admiral. The fact that he laid down on the floor claiming that he was tired while still engaged with the Straw Hats in a confrontation didn't help redeemed his reputation as an Admiral at all.

* * *

**Timeskip**

**After the castaways who were washed ashore from a shipwreck left, following the direction Aokiji pointed out to the next inhabited island…**

Sitting in Indian style with his left arm which was propped on his left knee, supporting his head, the Marine Admiral was deep in thought. Scratching his head, Aokiji started hesitantly mentioning about Luffy's Grandpa which sent chills down the captain's spine as the raven rubber man recalled his not so likable memories with his Grandpa. "Your Grandpa helped me out a long time ago. I came here to see Nico Robin and you with my own eyes. And so, are you ready to die?"

According to Aokiji's train of thoughts, he predicted the Straw Hat Pirates could be a formidable crew taking into account their past encounters despite the fact that the Government still didn't consider the recently formed crew to be threat. He even admitted to the Straw Hat pirates that even though he had fought pirates and outlaws for many years, the crew gathered before him scared the shit out of him.

"… You'll learn soon enough that protecting that woman leads to regret. And if you doubt me, know that every organisation Nico Robin has joined until now has been brought to ruin. Not one member escaped, except her. Why is that, Nico Robin?"

This seemingly was a sensitive topic for Robin as the ex vice president of Baroque Works got into position with her arms crossed before her.

"Treinta Fleurs!"

Numerous hands gathered around Aokiji, tightening their hold on his jaw, his arms, his back and his legs.

"Glutch!"

Right at the command, Aokiji was bent backward to an inhuman angle and broke into chunks of ice and disintegrated. However, much to the horror of the Straw Hats, the leftover ice was shaping itself back to form the figure of the supposing dead Admiral. The 10'0 tall man pulled a handful of grass out and tossed them into the air. As the giant exhaled a breath, the grass froze to form an irregular ice sabre which he planned to kill Robin with the newly formed weapon. The swing of his sabre toward his target was then interrupted by the green haired swordsman using a katana and Sanji who kicked the same sabre out of Aokiji's hand. At seeing Luffy running toward him with his right arm stretched backward for his famous Gomu Gomu no Pistol, Aokiji immediately grabbed hold of Zoro's right arm and Sanji right leg. As if on cue when Luffy's fist came into contact with Aokiji's torso, the curly-haired man froze the body parts of the three pirates that were in contact with him.

Pain. That was all the three of them could feel. The needle-pricking sensation caused by the ice covering their body made them collapsed flat on the ground groaning in pain. Taking advantage of Robin's vulnerability without their protection, Robin couldn't react fast enough to escape Aokiji's towering figure as said man leaned forward to embrace Robin into a hug.

Despite Luffy's and Sanji's cries, Robin had already become a block of ice leaving most of crew gasping in utter shock…


	5. Decision

Chapter 5 –_Decision_

**Back at Mock Town**

**Four weeks after kicking Firearms Kioshi's ass**

**Second floor of the nameless café/bar**

Fuschida Shinsui was a modest man in his thirties. If one was to ask Shinsui about his occupation, he would reply them that he was a Marine. The answer had always made said person be envious of him as it was an honour to be working for the World Government's military sea force, or so they thought. Despite being a Marine, he had no official uniform besides a white Marine shirt without decoration and blue Marine trousers. Yes, he was just a chore boy, the lowest rank in the Marine. For the past ten years, he had been working like an administrative assistant, sorting out documents and doing paperwork well sometimes as a cleaner to do chores. He was never promoted. Receiving only a small amount of salary each month, let's just say that his misery salary wasn't worth the workload he got… Even the diamond ring that he bought for his girlfriend took him five years' worth of savings. Who knew that he would be trick by his supposing 'girlfriend'?

When Shinsui was pacing around Mock Town after realising that he was scammed, he stumbled across an interesting shop that drew him to it. That was when he met Ren, a 5'10 blue-hair woman who was the owner of the nameless café/bar. Adding to the list, he also got to witness a one-sided fight between Ren and the pirates who barged in from nowhere. The adrenaline rush that he felt was foreign to him. As a Marine, facing a pirate would be a daily thing. But for our office boy who didn't have any combat abilities here, he had never encounter any pirates before that was until now… Seeing the fight between Ren and the 7 pirates up close was so different from what he had imagined.

Ever since that awesome day, the middle-aged man had been visiting the café/bar every day that Ren even reserved the armchair he usually sat specifically for him. Shinsui considered Ren's café/bar as his sanctuary to escape from the reality temporarily. The need to do so all traced back to him being caught in the scam in the first place. To propose to his girlfriend, he applied for a 3 days leave for the first time in past ten years. It was a shock to the other Marines that were stationed at the same base as him. When the rest realised his plan, they all congratulated him and wished him luck. Well, Shinsui wasn't sure if they were being sincere or were just saying that for the sake of it… He knew that he was looked down upon by them, since he was a mere chore boy and being that for ten years made it worst. He didn't know how but when he returned to his work after his leave, news about him being scammed by his girlfriend started to propagate. Within a day, he was gossiped behind his back and was named a fool for being tricked. Everywhere he went, he was given sympathetic looks and whisperings. It was a pain in the ass to him.

During his time at the café/bar, Shinsui was starting to take a liking to his new friend. They made small talks every now and then though it was mostly him talking. He had realised that Ren didn't mention much about her family at all. He only knew that she was a freelancer and had worked a bounty hunter two years ago. Fearing that he would cause any discomfort to his new friend, Shinsui didn't try to press Ren further to ask about her full name and her family. The small talks that they had were sufficient for him. They were getting so familiar with each other that Shinsui began to help Ren out in the café/bar when the workload was too much for the blue-haired owner alone. Shinsui had started to consider the sixteen year-old as her daughter. It had become sort of a regular thing that Shinsui resigned from his job. He still remembered the moment when Ren asked him to work with her at the café/bar. It was the second day of his visit ever since he quitted his job. He still visited Ren during his usual timing to avoid Ren's suspicion. So imagine the shock when Ren admitted to him that she knew of his resignation and even invited him to be her business partner. Ren had even offered to pay him triple the salary that he once received as a Marine.

Hence he had been reporting to the café/bar for his work for the past four weeks. And within four weeks, he found himself understanding the crimson-eyed beauty even more. Well other than her sadistic personality and remarks that he often found himself a victim of it, Shinsui also realised that her partner didn't have the habit of doing her accounts. To the middle-aged man, it was still a mystery how Ren managed to keep her shop running without tallying her expenses, profits and losses.

Without him even realising, Shinsui had also become Ren's personal alarm clock since he was always there in the morning to wake her up. To trace back, it all started on his first day of work. Like his job at the Marine base, he had reported at eight in the morning to do the usual clean up before the café/bar was opened. After becoming a regular at the shop, he more or less familiarised himself with the menu. So the newcomer had no problems preparing the hot drinks and sweet tricks. He was so busy preparing that when he finally finished, three hours had passed. That was when he started to realise something was amiss… It was close to noon and he had yet to seen the bluenette at all. So being the kind him, he made his way to the second floor where Ren resided in only to find her still in a deep slumber. He thought it was just a one-time thing for Ren to oversleep, well it turned out that Ren only opened her shop when she felt like it. His new working place didn't have a regular operating time and the rest of the regular all knew it except him. So for the past one week when he visited, the shop was opened because Ren felt like it. Being a responsible business partner, he made it his responsibility to wake Ren up every day to open her café/bar.

Speaking of waking her up… It brought the former Marine to a stop in front of Ren's bedroom. With a sigh, he knocked on the door before entering. Like always, the same bedroom greeted him. The room was kind of gloomy. With the curtains drawn, the dark sapphire colour could be hardly seen from the walls. It was a simple room with little furniture in it. At the right side of the room was a large shelf lined with many books of different themes ranging from medicine, history to maps and etc. Near the shelf was a white wardrobe with sliding doors and 4 drawers and by the side was where Ren's harvest duffle bag was hooked at. And at the opposite end was where Ren's waterbed was located. As he had suspected, Ren was still curled up under her blanket sleeping.

Making his way to the windows, he made as much noise as he could before pulling the curtain apart for the sunlight to light up the dark-themed room. From the corner of his eyes, Shinsui could see that Ren had begun to come around and was murmuring something that he couldn't catch.

"ouldn't I… sleep…"

* * *

Ren was still in her lalaland enjoying whatever sweet dream she was having when her vision whited out. Realising that she was back from her lalaland, she couldn't help to furrow her brows in displeasure. With her eyes still closed, she began to stir.

"What the hell! Couldn't I get some sleep~"

Flipping her blanket off of her, Ren lifted her head slightly and cracked her left eye open. Scanning her left eye around the room, she finally spotted the person who interrupted her beauty sleep. Sitting herself upright, the partially awaked blue head rubbed her eyes lazily. After a series of yawns, Ren finally separated herself from her comfortable bed to wash up.

An hour later, Ren found herself sitting at an armchair downstairs enjoying the breakfast that Shinsui had prepared for her. Cupping her hot tea with both hands, Ren leaned back and directed her eyes to her business partner who was busying himself at the bar. Very soon, Ren found herself lost in her thoughts….

Cadis D. Reverie had never expected herself to be so close to one of her customers. The haggard looking man that she saw four weeks ago seemed to have change hundred and eighty degrees to a different man. For a period of four weeks, they had bonded through small talks that Shinsui had initiated. As time went by, Shinsui began to pick up ropes from her, learning how to operate the café/bar and how to make the different drinks and sweet treats from her menu. Ren got to admit that he was a fast learner to get the hang of it in only a month. Shinsui could already manage the shop by himself…

'_Perhaps it was time to move on again…_' At the end of the day, Ren was still a freelancer. She only did jobs that interest her at that moment. One year ago, it was the bartender job that caught her attention. Now, one year later, she found her current job kind of lacking. Not that she didn't enjoy it; she liked seeing how people appreciated her drinks and desserts but there was something missing. _Excitement. Danger. Adrenaline rush._ The blue head can't find all these from manning a café/bar. Making up her mind, Ren decided to drop the bomb on Shinsui.

"Shin, this nameless shop will now be under your care."

* * *

Being knocked senseless by the sudden announcement, Shinsui almost dropped the glass that he was wiping. He placed the glass on the counter and tilted his head in confusion. "H-huh?"

Getting up onto her feet, Ren made her way towards him. "What I mean is from this moment onwards, you are the owner of this shop…"

Shinsui had expected Ren to close the shop since she was a freelancer and being stuck here for a long time wasn't her thing. However, said man didn't expect it to be so soon; it had only been three weeks since he was working and right now she was announcing him as the new owner instead of ending the business. From the time he spent with the blue head, he had learnt to expect something random and spontaneous from her. And here she was, making a sudden decision again.

With a gulp, Shinsui managed to recover from his shock and coughed out an appropriate response. "W-when are y-you leaving?"

'_Oh god… What's with her reaction?_' Shinsui who could hardly digest the news found himself dreading her answer. The 5'10 beauty who stood at the foot of the stairway, was looking at him with a dazed look and grinning. The next instant, the said woman had already sprung up the stairs, disappearing from Shinsui's sight.

"NOW!"

Indeed, he should always trust his instincts. And her answer was one he dreaded. It was so sudden and that meant she was leaving today. He didn't' even have the time to brave himself for it. He knew this certainly amused Ren a lot. Snapping out of his thoughts, he jumped over the counter and ran upstairs to catch up with his business partner only to be greeted by an empty room with a widely-opened window. Ren had already packed her stuff and made her escape through the window.

Sitting on Ren's bed, Shinsui shook his head in defeat. No matter how long he spent his time around that sadistic woman, he could never get used to her. Opening the envelope that was left on the middle of her bed, Shinsui read the letter. It was so her, short and straight to her point…

'_Dear Shin,_

_It was a pleasure to know you. I can still remember the day that we first met. You looked so worn down and depressed. Right now, you have changed a lot. More confident. Happier. And definitely richer._

_The shop is now under your care. Left all the money that the shop has earned in the safe. It's yours now. Take care._

_I will be around~ _

_Reverie (that's my real name by the way)_'

* * *

A/N: Yes. This is the last time you will see Fuschida Shinsui… So do you like him? If ya want him to make his appearance in the future chapters, do tell me~

Ren will be meeting the straw hats soon… Don't cha worry, wait for it~

**Anyway**, I need suggestions! The Straw Hats will be landing on new islands before I touch on the main story plot. Coz Ren needs some bonding sessions with her new nakamas. So do you have any suggestions?


	6. Race against Time

Chapter 6 – _Race against Time_

Stuffing all her belongings into her harvest duffle bag (with extension charm), Cadis D. Reverie cleared her room in mere seconds. Slinging the bag on her left shoulder, she carefully made her way out through her window to avoid Shinsui. The letter that she had left on her bed would be sufficient to deliver a farewell message. With her eyes darken and golden sclera formed, Ren shifted and extended her bat-like wings. With a flap of her wings, she took off before Shinsui could catch up on her.

It had been hours since her departure from Mock Town. Travelling at a tremendous speed, Ren was heading towards the north. Without any specific place to go in mind, Ren didn't know where she was located now. Tilting her head slightly upwards, Ren locked her eyes onto the cloudless sky. Closing her eyes, Ren could feel the sun beaming upon her face and the gentle breeze caressing her skin.

Her peace was interrupted when several booms resonated. Ren managed to dodge a handful of black blurs that followed. Realising she was under attack, Ren avoided eleven more cannon balls that fired her way and tried to locate the culprit from all the jerking movements caused while dodging.

Spotting the culprit's Jolly Rogers, Ren sweat dropped. It was a badly drawn flag with a standard Jolly Roger with what it seemed to be a bear's round ears and a unique triangular red nose. If it wasn't for the word 'FOXY' written on the flag, Ren wouldn't have been able to recognise it. It was the Foxy Pirates led by Foxy the Silver Fox. A majority of the crew was composed mostly of crewmen won through the Davy Back Fight.

"Foxy the Silver Fox." Ren muttered, "With a bounty of 24,000,000 beli. Well known for its Noro Noro no Mi…" Aware that Foxy could fire microscopic particles as beams of light that could slow down his enemies or other objects for 30 seconds, Ren took out a pair of sea stone cuff out from her bag. Getting caught in the beam would be the last thing she would want. The continuous cannon attacks were starting to get a rise out of her. Taking a deep breath to calm her rising temper, Ren folded her wings slightly and plunged straight down in the air, heading straight towards the large fox-themed galleon. The series of onslaughts had stopped as Ren was now directly above them and was beyond the cannon's trajectory. She continued her dive, descending at great velocity. Only when she was a few feet away from the deck did she fully extend her wings to slow herself down.

Ren had successfully emerged onto the deck of Foxy's ship, just a few feet away from Foxy the Captain and shifted her wings back. Quirking her eyebrow, Ren crossed her arms across her chest and interrogated the stout man who had a cleft lip-like mouth and a unique hairstyle, with his hair split into two spikes pointing upwards. "WHY are you attacking me?"

This seemed to boast Foxy's ego as he started to puff up his chest confidently. "I am a man who takes everything he wants! Ehehehe. Why make such a fuss over it? That was nothing more than a bit of sport hunting!"

With his words, Ren lowered her head and her fringe covered her darkened red eyes. Ren's irritation could no longer be contained. Pupils narrowing, Ren didn't waste much time with Foxy. She glided right in front of the trickster at inhumane speed and fastened the sea stone cuff around his wrist... After she had ensured Foxy's inability to use his Noro Noro no Mi, she connected her palm with his foxy-like face and slammed him onto the ground hard. Ren then lifted her right leg and stomped hard on his chest, causing him to cough badly from the impact.

"Foxy the Silver Fox." Ren stared right into Foxy's frightened eyes and continued. "YOU made a mistake when YOU decided to make ME YOUR target. If I see YOU doing this to anyone, I will personally hunt YOU down no matter how far I am from YOU. DO. I. MAKE. MYSELF. CLEAR?!" At every word Ren had stressed, she stomped hard onto Foxy's chest. By the end Ren finished her point, Foxy was already slipping into unconsciousness and the rest of his crew were gaping with their eyes wide opened.

"Oyabin!"

Two of Foxy's crew who were close to him rushed to their captain to help him up. One was a slender young woman with dark blue hair and a pointy nose. She was wearing a pink jumpsuit with ectremely puffed pantlegs, which was unzipped on the top to reveal a bikini top beneath it. The other was a huge gorilla-like human who was wearing a leopard patterned scarf. Like the rest of the Foxy's crew, they both wore the standard Foxy Pirate face mask.

Shooting every single crew a glare, Ren made her way to the edge of the ship. Shifting her form, she stretched her wings fully.

But before Ren took off, she sent a slicing air current towards their ship's mast, cutting through it with relative ease. "The key to his cuff can be obtained from any Marine," She scratched her cheek before muttering the next sentence to herself, "Well, the cuff was theirs in the first place. That's where all my cuffs are collected from…" Clearing her throat, she raised her voice again. "If you wanna save your Cap, it's best to make your way to a Marine base. Though, with your damaged mast, it could probably take you longer to reach there. Who knows? You may encounter the victims of your Davy Back Fight seeking for revenge? Good luck with that." Grinning innocently, Ren waved lazily to the rest of the crew and took to the air. What she heard next almost made her paused her movement.

"-hat is with our luck today? First, our defeat against the Straw Hats. And now this…"

'_Straw Hats? Straw Hat Luffy_?' Ren's curiosity spiked. To the best of her recollection, she had heard people mentioning about him at Mock Town and his bounty poster, including Montblanc Cricket

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_Like usual, Ren was standing behind her bar, cleaning her wine glasses with a clean cloth. After winning the bartending competition that was held a few towns away, the sixteen year old blue head had finally returned to Mock Town two weeks later. She came back to resume her business earlier than she had first expected so there wasn't anyone in her café/bar for that day. It seemed that Ren's absence had caused her to miss out a lot of interesting events. _

_Firstly, it was the defeat of Bellamy the Hyena, the captain of the Bellamy Pirates who had a bounty of 55,000,000 beli. His opponent was Monkey D. Luffy who had recently defeated a Shichibukai, Crocodile and obtained a bounty of 100,000,000 beli. _

'_Well, Bellamy must have been overconfident and underestimated his opponent's strength… Serve him right…" was what Ren first had in mind. When one got overconfident, that was when something snapped up and bit him or her._

_Secondly, it was the occurrence of Knock Up Streams. The rare event that happened only 5 times a month. She witnessed many streams throughout the year but this time was different. The strength of this particular event was strong enough to shoot someone or something straight up to the sky to Sky Island. Oh yes, she knew about the existence of Skypiea. She had even been there with her dad six years ago. It was her tenth birthday when the two Cadis made a rare trip out of Lukedonia. Knowing that his daughter was very curious after reading about the rumoured Sky Island in a book, Raizel led her to Mock Town. With the manipulation of air, Ren managed to get both of them in the sky even with the absence of the streams. It was an unforgettable trip on her birthday…_

_She was brought out of her daydreaming when someone stepped into her café/bar. Her new customer was a muscular, middle-aged man with blonde hair. He had a large chestnut on his head. He wore a dark purple tracksuit pants with a white strip running along each leg, and a rope around his waist. His bare chest and arms were wrapped with bandages. It was obvious the injuries that he had incurred were only recently. _

_The man took a sit at the bar and ordered an alcoholic drink. Ren spoke up just as he lit up a cigarette. _

"_Have a rough week?"_

_Eyeing the blue head bartender, his lips quirked in amusement. "You can say that…" Silence once again filled the whole place. Recognising the chestnut hair, Ren retreated upstairs to collect something before reappearing in front of the blonde man and slid a box to him. _

_Montblanc Cricket who just finished gulping his drink, set the glass on the table and stared at the box in suspicion before opening it with wariness. To his surprise, it was a variety of dials and a number of landscape photographs of Skypiea. He casted his eyes back to the blue head when she explained for her actions._

"_I have read Liar Noland. You are Montblanc Noland's descendant, are you not? Then I believe this should belong to you. I have been there six years ago…"_

_Ren's actions seemed to touch the middle-aged man before her that Cricket began to confide that he was injured by Bellamy and his crew and his meeting with the Straw Hat Pirate. From his tales, Ren could feel herself itching to be with the same group of pirates. She could tell that this particular rookie group was different…_

* * *

It had been nearly an hour since her encounter with Foxy. The thought of being able to meet the rumoured Straw Hat Luffy made her heart beat even faster with anticipation. It wasn't long for Ren to spot something interesting. Ren peered down from her height and spotted a big patch of sea being frozen. "Isn't that…" Ren trailed off. It was obvious that only one man possessed the Hie Hie no Mi. But Ren was puzzled, wondering what he would be doing here. Then Ren recalled hearing the foxy pirates mentioning about their bad luck in encountering the Straw Hats and her on the same day. Connecting the dots, Ren's heart skipped a beat.

Flapping hard with her wings, Ren picked up her pace and glided towards the source of the frozen sea. Taking in deep breaths to slow down her racing heart, she could only pray that she made it in time.

"Straw Hat… You better not die before I meet you…"

* * *

A/N: Yes finally, Ren will be meeting the Straw Hats the next chapter. Thanks for the wait!

Earlier, Ren mentioned that she had been to Skypiea six years ago. That was before Enel defeated Gan Fall and the Shandia and took the position of God of Skypiea for himself. That was why Ren didn't meet Enel at all. If not she would have kick Enel's ass to end the sufferings of the people…

**Anyway**, I need suggestions! The Straw Hats will be landing on new islands before I touch on the main story plot. Coz Ren needs some bonding sessions with her new nakamas. So do you have any suggestions?


	7. Sidetrack

Chapter 7 – Sidetrack

It's Aprils' Fool people! *Cheers *Claps

I'm not sure how u guys celebrated today. I was at home for the whole day to prepare and printing tutoring materials. Cuz I'm having one of my tutoring sessions tmr…

I was busy editing the story after reading **MusicOfMadness**'s review.

If you guys have realised, all the chapters are replaced, mainly chapter 2 and 3 (I think). I edited the parts where Ren used her ability. Some changes are made. Cadis D. Reverie **no longer** controls **4 elements** (the first time I wrote it like that). She **ONLY** controls **wind/air** right now.

Anyway, I know some of you guys may find Caids D. Reverie too powerful. But do bear in mind, they are only at the Grand Line. The opponents that she encountered so far were weaker than her, so the fight between them was kinda like one-sided. As the chapters goes on, they will meet stronger opponents like CP9 agents etc. And that's when ya will see a weaker(?) Ren.

Well, I didn't want Ren to have a sad/bad background. Personally I don't like it. Well, compared to the rest of the Straw Hats, her background may a be a little bland (?) since the rest like Chopper or Nami have touching background and so on… But just let it slide, for now? Haha

* * *

For now, let's do a list of Reverie's abilities.

**Akuma no yona me 'Demon eyes' **

-Pick up on subtle details.

-Track fast-moving objects before finally giving some amount of predictive capabilities to the user, allowing them to see the image of an attacker's next move from the slightest muscle tension in their body and counter-attack or dodge without any wasted movement

-Mind-reading (Most of the times are by accident. She has no full control yet. I excluded this skill at first but after much consideration I added it back again. Cuz I need it in the later part.)

-Mind-control (Not unlock)

**Zoan and Logia class Devil Fruit: Elemental dragon-human hybrid (Wind)**

*Just WIND element only! Kinda like Avatar's Airbending~

-Dark pupils with golden sclera whenever she started to control the elements or when she extended her wings out

-Extend large bony wings that resemble a bat's, with ripped tips

Wind/ Air Element

It's a more defense-inclined art due to its supposed lack of fatal moves. But when applied correctly, it can be lethal. Moves such as the air blade and air blast could prove particularly fatal against living creatures seeing as they can cut through stone/timber and break entire rock-columns in half respectively.

**Enhanced agility**: Air movements can also be used as a levitation aid. Users jump high and far by riding on strong gusts of wind and can slow or deflect falls by creating cushions of air. The constant movement required by this art makes users naturally flexible and agile. Even without bending they can easily maneuver around an opponent by ducking, jumping, and side stepping, appearing to flow around their opponents without expending any energy at all, letting the opponent tire themselves out and thus creating exploitable openings. This conservation of energy combined with high stamina gives them an advantage in prolonged combat.

**Enhanced speed**: Users enhance their movement in battle; they can run swiftly by decreasing air resistance around them and even sprint across or run up vertical surfaces by generating a wind current behind themselves to propel them forward.

The key to air manipulation is flexibility and finding and following the path of least resistance.

* * *

Hope you can understand after reading the above details. I already have the next two chapters ready but I'm not posting it up yet. Mainly because I need to re-watch the Enies Lobby Arc in order to continue. Right now, my plans for the story are all over the place. I'm like thinking of the parts for the Sabaody Arc. I'm definitely dreading to write the next few chapters on Enies Lobby and Thriller Bark. Haiz~


	8. Rescue

Chapter 8 – _Rescue_

**Back to the Straw Hats on the uninhabited island**

Luffy stood there in shock. Staring at his nakama who was frozen into an ice statue, Luffy narrowed his eyebrows and gritted his teeth against each other in extreme anger. He took a step forward and snarled, "YOU!"

Looking at Straw Hat boy from the corner of his eyes, Aokiji assured Luffy, "It's nothing to scream about. If you thaw her out, she'll still be alive. However, her body is extremely brittle in this state, so you'll have to be careful. If any part of her breaks, she will die. For instaaaance…" The admiral dragged the last syllabus as he lifted his arm intending to punch the ice statue to prove his point. Luckily for Luffy's and Usopp's agile movements to scoop the now frozen Robin, escaping from the Aokiji's incoming punch and kick respectively. Under captain's command, Usopp, Nami and Chopper had proceeded back to the ship first to thaw out Robin before it was too late. As for Sanji and Zoro, both of them respected their captain's wish to have a one-on-one with the Admiral and had retreated back to their ship much to their reluctance.

* * *

**Time fast forward**

"You really are surprising." Aokiji stood at a distance from Luffy while he praised the exhausted pirate king wannabe.

Without wasting any time, Luffy began to charge towards Aokiji and managed to crouch his upper body to dodge Aokiji's incoming right punch. Gathering all his strength, he raised his left leg and kicked the Admiral into the air using all his might. While said Admiral was now in the mid-air coming to a stop, Luffy utilised his time fully. Standing firm on the ground, he began to inhale lots of air while twisting his now expanded elastic body numerous times. Finally when he reached his limit, he blew the air stored within him downwards with much force. With the strength of the outburst of air, Luffy was propelled upward, catching up with Aokiji in the air. As Luffy's body fully unwound from the twists, he began his onslaught of strong punches directing them to the culprit responsible for Robin's frozen condition.

Much to Luffy's dismay, the shattered ice shards gathered back into Aokiji directly in front of him. Without looking at his opponent at all, the laid back man began to return Luffy's attack with his very own devil fruit ability.

"Ice Time!"

Luffy was caught in a predicament. While still suspending in the mid-air, the sudden appearance of Aokiji before him gave him little time to react and dodge his attack. His pupils narrowed. Teeth gritted tightly. Luffy could feel the ice slowly creeping up his body and freezing his jaw and mouth. Soon, he would be an ice statue much like his archaeologist. The dread he felt should have ended when he fully became an ice statue. However, the moment never came as a blue blur zoomed next to him to pull him away from Aokiji, ending the body contact and stopping the freezing process. With a blink of an eye, the Admiral lost contact and sight with his target. Facing such an unexpected situation, only signs of distress registered on his face.

Landing his feet back onto the ground, he tried to locate where the Straw Hat disappeared to. As if knowing Aokiji's intention, the intruder who rescued Luffy appeared together with the partially completed ice statue behind the lanky man.

"Maa maa… That was so close…" The sudden bell-like voice that came from behind him brought Aokiji to a stop. As he turned with his heels to face the party crasher, he took his time to analyse his new opponent. Aokiji made good use of the stand still time and allowed his eyes to scan the intruder…

To his surprise, said person was a woman. The blue-haired woman was wearing her usual black happi coat and denim shorts, accompanied with black combats boots. With black bat-like wings extending from her back and her dark pupils with glowing sclera, she looked like a dragon… Could it be? There was only one person that he knew with the same unique features. Though Aokiji had never met the rumoured bounty hunter _Dark Angel_, he could identify said person from the reports he had read. Sparing the partially-frozen Luffy who can't talk at all a look, Aokiji directed his gaze back to Ren.

Luffy wanted to shout and beat the crap out of that ice bastard so badly. That ice bastard had treated the lone survivor of Ohara with so much condemn like it was a crime for her existence. He knew he had little chance in beating the Marine Admiral. However, this man had harmed Robin whom he considered his family. This wasn't acceptable to the future pirate king and he was willing to take his chance to avenge for his frozen nakama. He was this close to becoming an ice berg and perhaps die from the impact of his crash to the ground (since he could shatter into pieces) when someone pulled him away from death's door. When Luffy finally realised what was happening to him, he was already on the ground safely. Eyes wide with constricted pupils from his adrenaline, Luffy was breathing hard through his nose to witness the confrontation of Aokiji and his saviour. Though it wasn't an appropriate time, Luffy couldn't help to be infatuated with his saviour's wings as his eyes began to light up with enthusiasm. How he wished he could get a hold of the amazing wings… He really wanted the mystery woman to join his crew…

"Maa maa…" A hand shot out, waving up and down in a relaxed manner, "To be honest, I wasn't expecting the great Kuzan to be here! And you call yourself an Admiral? Don't cha feel embarrassed at all seeing that this new rising star dealt with the ex-shichibukai Crocodile instead of you guys? It is supposed to be your job to deliver justice! And this is how you treat the one who clean up your incompetent ass…"

The Ren's monologue rang in Aokiji's head. Indeed, the Marines were shamed by their lack of action toward Crocodile who had caused numerous sufferings to the citizens in Alabasta. Dragging his eyes away from the meddler, Aokiji connected with Luffy's eyes. "_We're going to finish this fight ourselves!_ " Recalling Luffy's declaration before their fight, the Marine Admiral had a change in mind.

Scratching his head in defeat, Aokiji began lazingly, "Damn, you set me up. The moment I accepted to fight you one-on-one, I settled on defeating you and you alone. Was that your plan? If I were to attack any of your crew now, I'd be the bad guy. Right, Captain?" Aokiji paused and smirked, "Or... Did you really plan on beating me? I'll give you a piece of advice. If you continue to associate with Nico Robin, she will become more than you can handle. The violent nature of the star she was born under will be more of a burden than you can bear. That is what it means to allow that woman on your ship, Monkey D. Luffy!" Taking a step closer to Luffy, Aokiji lifted his leg to smash an ice berg into pieces before adding on to his advice, "It would be simple to smash and kill you right now, but I have a debt to honour. And seeing the presence of…" The lanky man eyed the attractive blue head which didn't go unnoticed by the Straw Hat. "This makes us even for you thwarting Crocodile. And besides… Eh, never mind. Just something stupid Smoker told me. See ya! The same goes to you too, _Dark Angel!_"

By the time Aokiji finished what he wanted to say, he had already walked quite a distance away from them leaving Luffy speechless at his sudden withdrawal.

The bluenette couldn't believe that she made it just in time before the Straw Hat was completely frozen. Ren had flown to the island when she witnessed the onslaught of punches Luffy sent to Aokiji. Knowing what the Marine Admiral was capable of, Ren leapt in the air to scoop the rubber man, just in time to pull him away from Aokiji. Ren was still eyeing the Marine Admiral with wariness. Despite him being a fair distance away from them, Ren couldn't afford to let her guard down. He might had claimed that he let them go for now but he could easily take back his words and launch a surprise attack. The Marine Admiral could easily defeat them but why changed his mind at the last minute? Looking back at the rubber man with Aokiji completely gone, Ren slowly shifted her wings back and made her way to Luffy. Getting straight into his face, Ren let her eyes wandered around Luffy's features.

The person that she wanted to meet for a while had his trademark straw hat hanging at the back of his neck. Straw Hat Luffy had a scar with two stitches underneath his left eye and short black hair. He was really scrawny and short since he appeared quite dwarfed by the 5'10 woman. Ren could feel a smile spreading across her face. Just like his wanted poster, the Straw Hat didn't look intimidating at all. Ren could tell his naïveté and straightforward attitude from just one look. Being a bartender for about a year gave her enough experience to judge a person's personality just by observations. Ren could see that Luffy was the type that acted and said what he wanted to do rather than thinking it. Facing such an extraordinary pirate, Ren couldn't help but soften her eyes at the partially frozen Luffy. Placing both of her hands gently on Luffy's, her eyes darken and her hands started to glow slightly. Harnessing hot air in her palms, Ren started to thaw the ice on Luffy. Purposely leaving the ice on his jaw for the last (so that he didn't get to talk), Ren started with his hands first.

* * *

Running as fast as their legs could afford, the green-haired swordsman and the perverted cook headed to lend Luffy a helping hand only to see him almost completely frozen unmoving at all.

"There he is!"

"Luffy!"

"He's still in one piece!"

"That's good news!"

"I'll carry him/ I'll carry him!"

"Let's get him to the ship! / Let's get him to the ship!"

"Don't say what I say! / Don't say what I say!"

Closing their distance with their captain, the swordsman finally took into account the presence of another party near their captain. Mistaking the Ren's presence as one who was here to harm Luffy, Zoro drew one of his katana and charged straight at the red head. His attack was never met by his target; instead it was met by an air sphere which acted like a barrier.

Sanji stopped right behind Zoro, only registering the scene few seconds later. Both of them paused to stare at Ren. They were speechless – Zoro by the sudden air projection; Sanji by the sight of a woman. A sudden strong wind picked up and sent Zoro staggering back from the impact.

"Maa maa… Instead of messing around with me, shouldn't you be letting me deal with your Cap' over here?" Ren pointed the Straw Hat. As of now, Luffy's hands were freed from ice and were waving his hands dramatically to express himself seeing that his mouth was still frozen. Realising his hyperactive reflexes, Ren let out a sigh. Despite Ren for thawing the ice, Luffy was probably suffering from hypothermia still. He really shouldn't be moving at all, and this could take a toll on his frozen body. Ren hand chopped the back of Luffy's neck, rendering him unconscious.

"What did you do?!" Expecting such reactions from Luffy's crew, Ren explained herself calmly while resuming to thaw out the ice at Luffy's lower body.

"Even though the ice have been melted, your Cap' may still be suffering from slight hypothermia. Knowing his nature, did you not think that him moving around will take a toll on his body? Isn't he better when he was put to sleep?"

Realising the truth behind the Ren_'_s words, Zoro and Sanji also agreed with her. After spending a long time with their captain, they knew very well what Luffy was capable of.

"Come on. Lead the way. I believe there're others who need help, right?"

Upon hearing Ren's suggestion, Zoro stopped himself from questioning her intentions with them. Defrosting Robin would be the priority for now; he could interrogate her after Ren helped them. The green-haired swordsman was still a little dazed from his encounter with the red-eyed woman. It was perfectly normal for the perverted cook to sworn over any beautiful woman. But for a certain moss-head who never experienced this, the fluttering feeling in his stomach and his racing heart were foreign to him. He have never had this kind of fluctuation with any woman, not his childhood friend Kuina (probably because they were still young then) and not even their orange haired navigator… Pushing his thoughts back, Zoro hoisted the rubber man onto his shoulders with ease and started to make his way back to the ship. Sanji being the typical Sanji, offered Ren to carry her duffle bag for her and was flirting all over her on their way back.

* * *

**Back to a certain Marine Admiral who was preparing to leave the island on his bicycle**

Reading from his map, Aokiji muttered to himself. "If they follow the Log from this island, they'll reach… Heh, Water 7, the City of Water." He paused to scratch his head in defeat. "My my. They're getting pretty close to Headquarters."

Cycling on his bicycle across the sea thanks to his devil fruit ability, Aokiji's thoughts traced back to a certain bluenette. To say he was astonished by his discovery was an understatement. He would never have peg the famous _Dark Angel _to be such an attractive woman. A memory flashed in his mind as he recalled what had happened one and a half years ago…

_One and a half years ago._

_From his location, he would probably make it on time for his meeting with Sengoku and the other Admirals in a few weeks. Said muscular man with black, curly hair cut to chin length that fanned out at the tips pulled his sleep mask over his face and leaned back against the foldable sun tanning chair. He admitted that all these meetings at the headquarters were a pain in the butt. He had missed his previous few meetings with the same group for the same old reason – partly because he was too lazy or had forgotten it. And because of that, he was reprimanded badly by his superior Sengoku. If it wasn't for the constant nagging through the den den mushi, he would have probably forgotten it once again. It was just his luck to encounter Vice Admiral Garp so he hitched a ride on his ship instead of pedalling his bicycle. _

_He was about to doze off to sleep when hurried footsteps echoed and were heading straight to Garp who was standing not far away from him at the forecast deck._

"_Sir!" A panting subordinate caught his breath before continuing. "A pirate ship was seen hundred feet away. S-strange thing was there are tornadoes ahead… When the skies are clear... And... And…" Even without hearing the full report from his crew, the old man who was known as the Hero of the Marines was on full attention. Said muscular old man with a beard and a scar on his left eye stopped eating his favourite rice crackers and made his way to where his subordinate had pointed to take a closer look. Having heard this, the lazy Marine decided to tag along seeing that he was no longer sleepy after the whole commotion._

_Both Marines spotted the ship and could only stare at the phenomenon before them with their mouths wide opened. The pirate ship was in a ruined state. The sails on the ship were completely ripped and slashed. And indeed, like what the crew reported, there were mini-tornadoes surrounding the pirate ship. But the weird thing was that a SOS message was left after the tornadoes dissipated. It seemed like whoever controlled the tornadoes wanted them to see this._

_It didn't take long for them to reach the ruined pirate ship. As they had expected, the pirates were engaged in a tough fight. There were approximately fifty defeated pirates piled up on top of each other on the main deck. Most of them were dead only some lucky few were still breathing. The injuries found on them were similar. It seemed like whatever attacks were used left severe damages on them. On a closer look, the deadly attacks seemed to damage the bodies on a cellular level too. The victims all bled out from their eyes, ears and mouth. A few feet away from the human pile was a badly mutilated body. The head and limbs were separated from the body and were lying on the deck. Crimson blood from that disfigured body flooded almost half of the deck. _

_The victim had a long face with pronounced cheekbones and pronounced hairless eyebrow ridges. A noticeable trait in his appearance was a long thin scar running across his face. Despite having blood smeared all over the face, Aokiji could still recognise the poor man. He was the captain of the Gyoku Pirates, Ichigawa Gyokusho. There was a point when everyone regarded the Gyoku Pirates as the strongest rookies since the strongest were gathered in the same crew. They were so power hungry that they continuously flaunted their strength and committed many crimes. Infamous for their serious crimes like raping and slaving, the captain of the Gyoku Pirates was slapped with a high bounty of 250,000,000 beli. From all the reports Aokiji had read, the number of victims reached as high as several thousands and they had killed hundreds of Marines. Gyokusho alone had killed three Marine Commodores and four Rear Admirals (the fifth and fourth highest rank in the Marine respectively). Whoever did this to the powerful Gyoku Pirates would be strong._

_Shifting his gaze, he saw the rest of Garp's crew tending to a large group of captives on the forecast deck. Judging from their worn outfits, starved looks and tortured marks, they seemed to the new batch of prisoners of Gyokusho. _

_Making his way to them, the curly-haired Marine Admiral demanded. "What happened? Who did this?"_

_A scrawny looking man that had blue-black bruises all over him cowered in the presence of the towering man and squealed. "I-it was a woman. Tall with sky blue hair. Her eyes were dark with golden sclera. Bat-liked wings." A sob escaped from him. "S-she rescued us from the hands of those despicable pirates. S-she was the one who sent the SOS to help us… "_

_To say he was shock was an understatement. To think that a woman single-handedly slaughtered the entire crew and their captain who was capable of overpowering Marine Commodores and Rear Admirals. "Where is she?"_

"_S-she was injured b-badly but she left shortly after seeing your ship changed course to head straight to us…"_

After a few diggings here and there, he finally confirmed the identity of the woman. It seemed like she was a famous bounty hunter that appeared frequently to claim the rewards for the pirates she captured. Most of her victims were caught alive, except for a few who were sinned for their serious crimes like Gyokusho. It came to a point that people started calling her Dark Angel for her appearance. Her full name was still unknown… It seemed like the blue head had vanished not long after the Gyoku Pirates incident. The injuries that she had sustained might have forced her to end her bounty hunter career… To think that he would encounter her here…

The lanky Marine Admiral wondered about her motive in helping the Straw Hat, surely she didn't intend to join them right?

* * *

A/N: Yes like finally right… Finally Ren encountered the Straw Hats! *Claps claps

Yes. Ren kills people. She doesn't mind killing but she only does that to those who deserve it. Like in the case of Gyokusho… No sympathy is given to the Gyoku Pirates at all. Haha.


	9. Meeting

Chapter 9 – Meeting

**Back on Going Merry anchored close to the same uninhabited island**

The rest of the crew were at a shock when Zoro and Sanji returned with Luffy unscathed. Though said rubber man was unconscious and slumped on Zoro's shoulder, there wasn't any part of him being frozen. And the mystery woman that tagged along with them when they returned. As soon as they climbed on board, she had made her way to the bathroom to help defrost Robin. It seemed like her ability helped speed up the process. Seeing how Sanji was flirting all over the blue head and Zoro not taking any hostile actions, the rest could tell the woman wasn't a threat. Perhaps she was the reason for Luffy's condition? Nonetheless, if the stranger could help Luffy, she certainly could help Robin and as of now, helping Robin would be the priority. As to finding out the woman's identity and her motives would have to wait.

Sanji, Zoro, Nami and Usopp were gathering on the main deck in restlessness. All of them were waiting for the doctor's news. As if sensing the crews' jitteriness, the toddler-sized human/reindeer hybrid had exited the bathroom and slammed the door of their storage room open. Chopper was so elated that he burst into tears with mucus running from his nose.

"Both…of their hearts…are beating!"

"ALRIGHT!" Everyone cheered in joy. The mood was instantly lifted up, relieved to hear that their captain and archaeologist were fine.

"Hey, Luffy!"

"Robin-chwan"

Usopp and Sanji were heading into the room to visit Luffy and Robin only to be stopped by Chopper. Transforming into his human form, Chopper placed his hands on their heads to stop them from advancing.

"Not yet! You'll disturb them if you go in!"

"Oi, Dr. Chopper, I'll go make some food."

Hearing Sanji's praises, Chopper began to do the 'Dirty Old Man' dance, wriggling his hands in happiness. "C-calling me Dr. won't make me happy, you asshole! Oh, make it something warm for when they wake up. I'll bring them both to the lounge later."

"Aye, aye Sir!" As per the doctor's advice, Sanji had head back to his kitchen to make something warm for when they woke up.

Tugging his hands in his pockets, Zoro pondered for a while before looking at Nami who was collecting the used towels from the floor. Scanning up and down discretely, the green-haired swordsman compared her to the blue-haired woman who was occupying his minds for the past few hours. Surely they had similar curvy hour-glass figure, but there was something about the woman that made her different and memorable. Shaking out from his thoughts about the woman, Zoro asked the navigator if they should set sail.

Nami didn't look up and replied, "Not yet. The Captain's out of commission. And even though the Log's adapted, it's probably a good idea to spend the day here."

Shifting his gaze, Zoro saw their sniper who was leaning against the wall slumped down to his feet in defat. "What's wrong, Usopp? You look exhausted. "

"Are there gonna be more guys like that coming after us the further we go?" With a heavy sigh, he continued. "I've had just about enough of this craziness…"

"Get some sleep, idiot. You're just tired."

Momentarily, the rest of the crew (Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Nami) had forgotten about a particular bluenette as they were so distracted by Robin's and Luffy's condition. Hence, it was a surprise when the said woman suddenly emerged out from the lounge.

Still adjusting her duffle bag on her shoulders, Ren stumbled out of the room. "Thanks for letting me change my clothes. I got myself drenched while helping." Ren had yet to look up as she was still busying adjusting her bag.

The swordsman stiffened. The sight of Ren caught his breath. Instead of her happi coat, the woman had changed into a tank top. Zoro's heart sped up and he could feel his face heating up. He might be quite indifferent to the opposite gender but this weird feeling that he had been feeling was hard to ignore. Did he just fall in love with the mysterious woman at first sight? Be that as it might, the woman before him could be a threat. Clearing his mind, he drew out a sword and pinned it on Ren's throat.

"Who are you and what do you want with us?!" Zoro asked bluntly, glad that he didn't manage to crack his voice. Eyeing the blue head, his heart clenched. He didn't want to be so aggressive but the safety of his nakamas came first. The rest of the deck (Usopp and Nami) were still gaping at Ren's appearance, they couldn't believe that they had forgotten about the stranger on their ship.

Ren sensed Zoro's movements but didn't move a muscle. With an unconcerned shrug, Ren locked her red eyes with Zoro. "Ma… So impatient… I like it~ Name's Ren." Ren smirked when she saw the slight blush that formed on the face of the tanned swordsman. Being sadistic as always, Ren leaned closer to the green head and whispered to his ear. Purposely blowing into Zoro's ear, Ren lied. "If I said I was following you here, will you believe me? My heart has been beating so fast for you ever since I saw you~"

Zoro shuddered, feeling her hot breath on his ear. He could feel Ren's body heat from their close proximity. And at Ren's fake confession for him, Zoro felt heat flooding his body and face completely. He was so certain that he was as red as a tomato. Distancing himself from the said woman, Zoro flustered for the first time. "W-what are you saying!"

Zoro's reaction was exactly what Ren wanted and it seemed that his reaction was too much for his crew members, seeing the rest gaped in shock again. Smiling innocently, Ren corrected herself. "Nah, just playing with ya. I mean no harm. I am only interested in Straw Hat Luffy when I heard about him from Montblanc Cricket. Not that I particularly tracked you guys down…"

The rest of the crew except for Sanji who was in the kitchen cooking, heard her explanation and relaxed. They were all very thankful for the blue head to aid their dumb Captain from the Admiral. Except for a certain green head… It was for sure that he felt thankful but at hearing that Ren was only here to meet Luffy, his heart sank a little. It only irritated him further to see the annoying cook hovering around his Ren. When he snapped out of his thoughts, Zoro realised that Usopp was acting as an officer to question Ren, much like what he had done when Robin first joined them. Chopper did his reverse cartoon peek behind Usopp, hiding half of his face while staring intently. The reindeer/human hybrid was so busy attending to his patients to realise it was a stranger helping him out all along. To think that he thought his nakamas were getting more skilled in healing… As for the navigator, she had already given up and retreated to the forecast deck to start on her sun tanning.

Much to Usopp's annoyance, the said woman was looking around their ship and wasn't listening a word that he had said. The long-nose sniper slammed his fist on the table to gain Ren's attention. "Pay attention!"

"I want some straightforward and honest answers. I will ask you one more time. What's your full name?" Realising that he had yet to introduce himself, he did a forty-five degree bow while sitting. "My name is Usopp. Hello."

"Reverie."

"Okay, Reverie… So what is your occupation?"

"Former bounty hunter and bartender"

"Are you serious?"

Crossing her legs elegantly, Ren put on a charming smile. "Yes. Got bored of the job so here I am… "

Zoro sweat dropped at Usopp's actions. He was ashamed of the sniper especially so since the keeper of his heart was present. "What the hell…"

"Hm… You're full of confidence… What's your speciality?"

Ren placed her right elbow on the able and cupped her face. Tilting her head slightly, Ren grinned with her eyes closed. "Hunting. Pirate hunting."

"Guys! My investigation have concluded that she is far too dangerous…"

"Hehe. I'm just kidding~ Saa, are you done long-nose-kun? I am afraid that your interrogation has to be put on hold seeing your cap is now awake…" Ren's statement certainly caused puzzlement. How did she know without looking?

* * *

**Timeskip**

"Luffy~y! Yeah! Luffy~y! Yeah!" The sniper and doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates were cheering in anticipation. As if on cue, Luffy busted out from the door making his first appearance on the deck after his recovery. Whistles blown and cheers erupted. Being the simple-mined Captain, he comically ran towards his two crew and burst the bag he was holding on open. It turned out to be a bag of flour which had coated the rubber man from head to toe.

Frozen at one point, Luffy made a joke at his experience. "This is me frozen!" Hopping on one feet, Luffy ran into the wall and collapsed flat onto the ground. The effect was instant as laughter escaped from Usopp and Chopper causing them to roll on the ground in pain.

Watching the scene from the upper deck, Nami could only sigh at her Captain's actions. "That's pretty strange act for someone who was nearly frozen to death."

Patting the flour off his body, Luffy grinned. "Was it anything like that?"

"That was it! That was so it, Luffy!"

A melodious chuckle was heard. It wasn't Nami's as she didn't find his joke funny at all. It was obviously a woman's. Alarmed by the sudden chuckle, he directed their attention to the source of the chuckle.

* * *

Ren sat on the edge of their ship and crossed her long legs. A chuckle escaped from her before she could help herself. As Ren wiped her tears of laughter away from her eyes, she also tugged her blue strands behind her ears. "Monkey D. Luffy. Ya sure an interesting fellow…"

As she made her presence known, Luffy were loaded with excitement. Usopp, Chopper and Nami were still observing Ren in wariness. The stilled silence was however lifted by the blonde cook who just exited his kitchen, wanting to present his potato paille to his Nami-swan.

"Ah! Renie-chan! Forgive me! How can I not sense your presence earlier?!"

Unaware to the love-struck blonde, a certain swordsman was glaring so hard that he could burn a hole through Sanji's head. Why was he feeling this way again? What was this fluttering feel in his stomach? Was it jealousy he felt at seeing the stupid cook flirted with his woman?

"AHH! It's you! Thanks for saving me from that ice bastard!" The Straw Hat pointed at the Ren excitedly and thank her for her rescue.

Ren uncrossed her legs and teased him. "I've always wanted to meet you. Can't have ya in an ice-cube when I meet you for the first time, yea?"

"Sokka." Luffy nodded his head in understanding though he didn't know why the blue head wanted to meet him.

The rest of the crew heard her explanation and relaxed. They were all very thankful for the blue head to aid their dumb Captain from the Admiral and helped Robin's condition. To think that the rest of the crew (except for Sanji and Zoro) were suspicious of the said woman… And as expected from their unexpected Captain, he popped up a sudden invitation.

"Nee nee! Where are your wings? What are you? It's so cool! Join my crew!" Luffy's eyes were shining with amazement as he stared longingly at the blue head woman. Instantly, he was hand chopped by the Pinocchio-like member who found it ridiculous to let her join their crew just because of her wings(?). The rest on board were speechless as they didn't understand what Luffy meant.

Eyeing every single crew on board and settled on Zoro last, Ren found no one objecting to their Captain's suggestion. Perhaps it was because Luffy was the Captain? Perhaps it was because of their gratefulness they held for her? Keeping her eyes transfixed with Zoro's, Ren could feel a warm feeling spreading through her. It was foreign to her and she liked the unknowns. They diverted their gaze after a while and both ended up staring at the skies. This exchange didn't go unseen, particularly to an orange head navigator who already had many ideas to bring the two together.

Ren was still contemplating Luffy's invitation. Sure, she had wanted to meet Straw Hat Luffy all this time after hearing Cricket's accounts. But did she want to join them as a pirate? From her gut feelings, Ren sensed that the captain before her could accomplish great things. It would be great to lessen her boredom. It'd been a while since she felt this excited. Smiling softly, Ren didn't object to Luffy's suggestion and introduced herself.

"I'm Reverie. Call me Ren if ya want." Jumping off from the edge, Ren shifted to show them the wings that Luffy was talking about. Flashing her dark pupils with golden sclera to the rest, Ren could see the widely-opened mouth of the crew. Satisfied for successfully shocking the crew, Ren smirked and continued. "A devil fruit user. Yoroshiku!"

* * *

A/N: Is Zoro OOC? For Marine Ford Arc, do you want Ace to be alive? Just let me know~

Anyway, I still watching one piece episodes again… I had stopped chasing after one piece anime a year ago. The last episode I had watched was the Straw Hats gathering after 2 years ago… LOL… So updates will take slightly longer…


	10. Bonding

A/N: Thanks for reading! We have 1268 views in just 3 weeks(?). I am not sure whether that is considered a lot but I am satisfied with the responses from you guys seeing that this is my first fanfic... *Sobs

Anyway, let's have a vote! Let me know what you want!

**For the Marine Ford Arc, do you want Ace to survive Akainu's attack? **

* * *

Chapter 10 – _Bonding_

**The Going Merry stayed anchored at the deserted island for four days to allow Luffy and Robin to recover. Today was the morning of the third day of Straw Hats' voyage.**

**On Going Merry**

"Matte!" Luffy called at the top of his voice while trying to keep up with Ren. With Ren flying all over the place and taunting him to catch her, Luffy followed suit as well. At the moment, the said woman had flown to the crow's nest of Going Merry. Determined to get a hold of his new fascination, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates stretched his hands and grabbed hold onto the yard of the main topmast. Taking a few steps back, Luffy released his hold. At that instant, the stored potential energy had been converted into kinetic energy, propelling Luffy upward at an amazing speed. His attempt to launch a surprise attack on Ren failed terribly. Not only did Ren managed to dodge Luffy's tackle, the Straw Hat overshot his target by a fair distance and worst thing of all was that he almost landed in the sea. It was a close shave thanks to his fast reaction, if not he would have become a hammer in the water.

For the past hour, Usopp and Chopper were cheering for Luffy at the side-line, hoping that he could catch their new nakama. Nami had already lost her hope in keeping Luffy in control. She ignored all the chaos and lay on the outdoor lounge chair to enjoy the sun. Robin who had yet to make her appearance for almost a week was still resting in the bedroom. Zoro was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the railings on the main deck and had long tuned out from the commotion. He had his eyes closed and was trying his best to get a nap from all the noises.

* * *

Surprisingly, the integration of Ren into the Straw Hats wasn't that hard. Despite not spending a long time with the crew, they were still at ease with her presence.

Given the eccentric personality of the user of Gomu Gomu no Mi, it wasn't that hard for Luffy to accept Ren since he was the one who initiated the invitation. He finally got to recruit another cool member with wings! Trying not to stray away from his main thoughts, Luffy wondered about the red-eyed woman. He felt grateful toward Ren for pulling him away from Aokiji's attack. Despite their brief encounter, Luffy had already trusted the woman who showed up from nowhere.

To the amorous blonde cook, Sanji was more than happy to oblique to his captain's invitation to the blue head beauty. The 5'10 enchantress gave out a mysterious vibe, completely different from Nami-swan and Robin-chwan. He wouldn't say no to such a beautiful woman who saved his Captain earlier and it was to his benefit to have one more belle on board their ship.

The timid toddler-sized human/reindeer hybrid had done his famous reverse cartoon peek behind Usopp when he realised that it was the blue head that was helping him all along. Not knowing the woman at all, his timid nature towards unfamiliar humans got a hold of him. His heart was completely won over by Ren when said woman recognised him as a reindeer from her first try and complimented his cuteness while caressing his head lovingly (which had him doing his trademark 'Dirty Old Man' dance to hide his happiness).

The orange haired navigator didn't have any objection of Ren joining. She found the red-eyed woman to be a good addition to their crew as she was sick of having to face the rowdy men on the ship (not that Robin was a bad companion). Her heart wholeheartedly was bought over by their new nakama when Ren gave her a bag full of jewels (obviously to bribe her).

Though the curly haired sniper, who is an allusion to Pinocchio, didn't display the same hostility toward their new nakama as compared to Robin, there was still uncertainty present. He had also conducted an interview to interrogate Ren. When she admitted she was best in hunting pirates, it certainly scared the shit out of him. It was starting to diminish bit by bit with the time spent with said woman. Definitely, he felt indebted toward the blue head who was one year younger than him for saving his captain. His appreciation toward Ren only grew when she presented him a whole collection of Dials from Skypiea to add on to his weapons collection. She had also helped him to modify Nami's Clima-Tect. And much to his delight, Ren seemed to clique well with the fooling trio (which comprised of Luffy, Chopper and him) with her playful nature. She had even managed to capture Luffy's flour joke earlier with a Vision Dial and kept playing them back to relive the moment, causing the three of them to enter a frenzy of laughter all over again. Ren was a pleasant company though said sadistic woman had the habit of teasing him - calling him 'long nose-kun' instead of his given name or kept flicking his long nose. He knew that she did that to get a rise out of him and she enjoyed that very much.

The swordsman with a distanced personality hated to admit but he kind of liked the idea of Ren joining their group. The stern Bushido had certainly fallen in love. The constant fluttering feel in his stomach and the heating up of his face were what Zoro had been feeling wherever Ren was present. Said woman who had been occupying his mind was constantly teasing him and trying to get a blush out of him. It worked every single time and this seemed to be amusing to the rest of the crew (excluding the oblivious Luffy). Despite him trying to keep up his indifferent mask, the rest of the crew didn't seem to buy it and knew what he felt for their new nakama. He got to admit, his fondness for Ren was growing on him but it was embarrassing to be so obvious. That damn annoying cook irritated the shit out of Zoro when he flirted with Ren on purpose just to spite him.

* * *

The chase after Ren didn't last for long. The blue-haired woman suddenly stopped her escape and was hovering over the main deck. Sensing the abrupt stop of Ren, Luffy grinned in victory. He had finally worn Ren out and what was left was just to execute his best sneak attack on the said woman. Tiptoeing to his best effort, Luffy made as little noise as he could while closing in to the bluenette who was focusing on catching her breath. Usopp and Chopper were hugging each other as their stomachs churned in anticipation. Their cheering had stopped.

Ren smirked inwardly while pretending to be unaware of the whole sneak attack. She panted hard enough for Luffy to hear and he totally bought her act. Their captain's plan was painfully obvious to her – the cheering and Luffy's rowdiness had stopped. It was not discrete at all though to the three naïve idiots, their plan was perfect. Counting down, Ren gathered hot air around her. As if on cue, just as said Captain grabbed onto Ren from the back, Luffy's shriek could be heard.

"Ittai! It burns!" The Straw Hat had immediately released his hold and bolted to the edge of the ship to fully submerge his stretched hands in the water.

"Luffy, what happened?" Confused to Luffy's reaction, Usopp and Chopper had sprung onto their feet. The scene worked out even better than Ren initially thought. Witnessing at their shocked expression, a burst of laughter exploded. Ren began to smack against the railings in attempt to soften the pain in her stomach from laughing too hard. Finally calming her laughter down, Ren addressed to the confused crew who were looking at her with the 'Is she crazy' look. Wiping away her tears, Ren began. "Gomen. Kinda didn't inform you…" Pointing at their simple-minded captain, she continued. "I'm too _hot_ to be touch." Getting her joke, Usopp and Chopper burst into laughter while Luffy pouted in response.

* * *

Much to everyone's pleasure, the commotion that Luffy had stirred up earlier died down. As of right now, Ren and Zoro were sitting on the forecast deck while munching on Sanji's potato paille together. Sanji was flirting with Nami as usual. As for the fooling trio, Usopp, Chopper and Luffy were sitting on the railings at the main deck enjoying the delicious food. And when Chopper asked what was a paille, Usopp couldn't resist the opportunity to boast.

"What's a paille?"

"Paille is the name given to meat taken from the tail of the Great Beast Paille. I was the one who killed him. He was 100 meters long!"

With eyes bulging out, Chopper stared at Usopp in disbelief, totally buying his lie, "100 meters!? That's amazing, Usopp!"

"And all before breakfast…"

"You woke up early to kill it?"

"Chopper, what's my name?"

"Well, you're C-Captain – "

"Yes! My name is Captain Usotsu-" If he was a living Pinocchio, his long nose would have extended to an infinite length with his constant boasting. Thank god that his boasting was interrupted by the opening of the women's bedroom door. And there, a well-rested Robin emerged from the door causing everyone to feel relieve and elated at the same time.

"Robin!"

"Robin-chwan!"

Concerned with Robin's health, the navigator asked in concern, "Don't push yourself, Robin. Luffy's already recovered enough to run around screaming his head off…" At the same time, Luffy showed a thumbs up to Robin while grinning, "… but you can take your time." To which, Luffy boasted with a peace sign at Nami.

"That wasn't a compliment!"

As Sanji head back to the kitchen to make a cup of hot coffee for the archaeologist, said archaeologist easily noticed something or someone different on the ship. Tilting her head slightly to the side, Robin eyed the blue head who was sitting across her at the forecast deck. Sensing Robin's puzzlement, Nami took the role of introducing their new nakama.

"Robin! This is Ren. Thanks to our baka Captain, we have ourselves a new sister!" Nami grinned at Robin while patting Ren at the back. The raven woman eyed the swordsman and the bluenette before finally settling her eyes on Nami. At seeing Namin's knowing look, the raven smiled slyly. It seemed like the two women would be busy from now on.

* * *

**Time skip**

As usual, Luffy had claimed his favourite spot on Merry's head and was lying on it lazily. Several hours had passed since Robin woke up. He was dying of boredom when something caught his eyes. Eyes lighting up in excitement, he called out to the rest of his crew.

"Hey guys! Land ho!"

Who knew that a simple exploration would be so dangerous…

* * *

A/N: Next chapter will be touching on a new island!


	11. Silent Predator Part 1

Chapter 11 – _Silent Predator Part 1_

Candy Island.

It was said that everything was edible: the pavements, the bushes, even the grass. There were trees made up of taffy that grow jelly apples, bushes that sprout lollipops, mushrooms that spurt whipped cream, pumpkins filled with sugar cubs instead of seeds, jelly bean stalks and spotty candy cubes…

You could say that it's a natural candy factory…

When people first knew of this island, several people set sailed to confirm its existence. True enough, the natural candy factory did exist. News broke out rapidly like a plague. Soon, swarms of people came to exploit this island, stocking candies to ship back to their island to sell it. However, only few managed to do so. The majority had disappeared to god knows where.

Over the years, the number of people who disappeared on Candy Land skyrocketed. The missing people were never found. Afraid of the unknown dangers that lied on the land, people no longer set foot on this mysterious land again.

* * *

**Going Merry**

"Sugee!"

The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates exclaimed in elation with stars forming in his eyes.

There were many stacks and stumps surrounding them. It was evident that many arches had collapsed for the above structures to be formed. It took a lot of effort to manoeuvre through without running into the tall rock structures. Sailing through the numerous stacks and stumps, there were several cliff arches that were still standing strong. They were like gates leading them to the island as they sailed. The sight of the island before the Straw Hats was magnificent. The enclosed beach was silent. Crashing against the shore, small waves had washed more sands onto the land. Untouched golden sand covered the floor. Abandoned, there was nothing there apart from a few sea gulls pecking around.

Observing the island through a telescope, Nami drew a conclusion. "It looks uninhabited. Though-" Her next sentence of her answer was hesitant. What greeted the Straw Hats at the corner of the shore weren't pleasant, at all. Nearing the cliff, there anchored another pirate ship though it looked like no one was on board. It wasn't the presence of another pirate crew that made Nami apprehensive. There were remains of many old ships that had wrecked, which are found either breached on land or sunken to the bottom of the sea. What could have caused it? Well, ignoring the insecure feelings, the presence of sunken ships probably meant that she could find treasures on them. At that thought, her eyes lit up with the beli signs. However as usual, before Nami could finish her words, Luffy cut her off.

"Shishishi… Prepare to drop anchor! We're going ashore!" The over-enthusiastic captain had earned a knuckle punch from the orange head navigator for interrupting her.

Unlike Luffy, there was someone who was dreading to land on the island. Judging by the remains of the wrecked ships, there might be something dangerous out there. Who knew what would happen to them. Usopp paled and crumpled to the ground. Resting a hand on his stomach, his face contorted in pain. "Oh I have a sudden case of can't-get-on-that-island-disease~"

Eyeing the long-nosed sniper on the floor, Nami ignored him. "We should explore the ships too. We may find something valuable~"

"Oi oi! Don't just ignor-"

"Okay, we should split up. Some should go look for food supplies and the rest should explore the ships," The blonde cook added, cutting Usopp off yet again.

* * *

**Timeskip**

Lots were drawn to divide the Straw Hats into two groups. The first group to explore the ships consisted of Nami, Robin, Sanji and Chopper. The next group to explore the island and to gather food consisted of Luffy , Usopp, Zoro and Ren.

Well, it was for sure that a particular greedy orange head would be in the group since her treasures were involved. Nami couldn't trust the rest of the guys with the treasures, just like money. She was the one who took control of the amount of money the crew spent, ever aware of the crews' spending habits. It was to her luck that Luffy wasn't in the same group as her. She was certain that Luffy would keep the treasures that he had found and spent it on meat.

The archaeologist was curious ever since they landed on the island. The sight of those sunken ships was stuck in her mind. Three-quarters of the island was surrounded by the cliff and it acted as a barrier to protect the shore from any strong currents. There were also numerous arches situated at the front of the island that helped to break the strong waves, reducing its strength. With both structures present, there was a low possibility that those sunken ships were destroyed by strong waves. The currents close to the shore were gentle and it wouldn't have been able to cause any serious damage to the ships. She wanted to find out what exactly had caused those ships to sink.

Sanji couldn't have been any happier, being group together with his Nami-swan and Robin-chan. Well, he could be flying in heaven if their newest nakama was in the same group as him. However, he knew better that Ren was Zoro's or should he correct himself to soon-to-be-Zoro's. No matter how annoyed Sanji was with the marimo, he got to admit it would only be a matter of time the two of them got together.

Chopper was glad that he got to be in the same group as Robin. It had only been a few days since their encounter with the Marine Admiral Aokiji. Being frozen into a block of ice for more than half an hour wasn't joking. It would be great for Chopper to stay close to Robin in case she wasn't feeling well. It was his responsibility as a doctor to ensure his patient's wellbeing.

Luffy was so excited to explore the new island. Excluding their encounter with the curly-haired Admiral a few days ago, his journey for the past few days had been fulfilling. Well, the Straw Hat got to have a new nakama who was able to shift into a dragon hybrid. Not only that, the blue head was willing to join Usopp, Chopper and him to fool around since the rest of the crew normally wouldn't join them in their usual fun.

The sniper had voiced out his disagreement with the arrangement. His usual claim about his 'can't-get-on-the-island' disease didn't work at all, seeing how the rest of the crew had ignored him once again. Given his luck, Usopp could only sighed heavily and stick to the arrangement. Well, it couldn't be that bad with Luffy and Zoro around. The two of them were the strongest two in the crew, Usopp wasn't sure how would Ren fare in terms of fighting. But he was sure that the blue head was more capable than him in fighting. Even if something were to happen, he would be safe with them around.

The green-haired swordsman was pleased to be in the same group as a particular blue head. He had gotten closer with Ren over the past few days. He didn't specifically try to interact with the woman since his intention with her would be too obvious. Nonetheless, both of them shared their little moments. The both of them would often make eye contacts with each other before diverting their gaze away after realising what they had done. Their hands would also brush against each other when they walked close to each other or when they attempted to reach out for the same item. In the presence of the blue head, Zoro sometimes felt like an idiot. His '_I am cool' _mask often seemed to fall with her around.

As for the Straw Hats' newest member, Ren was very thrilled for their exploration. It had been nearly a year since she had visited any new islands. And this time was different since she wasn't alone. She had made the right choice so far, seeing that she had been having a lot of fun with the fooling trio. Ren was also entertained by the drama that happened on Going Merry like how Nami got angry at Luffy for his irrational thinking and short attention span or how Sanji and Zoro insulted one another… Speaking of the swordsman… Without her realising, Ren had become very close to Zoro, excluding Nami and Robin since they were of the same sex and they naturally got close together. It was a surprise since they didn't have a lot of conversations. Sure, they did share many moments that Ren had found them rather cute. Like how the both of them often did the same action at the same moment and how they understood what each other wanted without asking. She got to admit that the warmth she had felt whenever Zoro was near her was comforting. Ren found herself enjoying Zoro's presence a lot, not only because she got to tease him and make him blush…

* * *

**Second group (Luffy, Usopp, Zoro and Ren)**

"How are we supposed to carry all this large barrels with us?" Usopp's shoulders hunched as he stared at the empty barrels in front of him.

The Straw Hats had run out of food supplies despite stocking plenty at Sky Island. It was all thanks to their captain that they had to restock their food supplies every few days. They never could understand what was happening in Luffy's stomach. It was like a bottomless pit that no matter how much food Luffy ate, it would never fill him up. And as of now, the group had brought with them many large sacks and barrels to contain whatever they would pack later.

To Usopp's question, the rest of the group answered him at the same time.

Ren who was standing beside the sniper turned to face him and gave him a 'Are you stupid?' look, "Duh. Isn't that obvious? You use your hands… Unless you don't have one…" She ended off with a smirk.

As for Luffy, he gave Usopp a bored look while picking his nose. "Eh, we just carry them."

For Zoro, he hoisted two large barrels to his shoulders easily like it was nothing. "Like this."

Hearing all the answers, Usopp wept in helplessness. He wasn't as insanely strong as Zoro to lift the barrels like it was nothing. Well, it was Zoro that he was talking about. Zoro had monstrous physical strength and he was able to lift and toss an entire building when they were at Alabasta. Heck, Usopp couldn't even deal with the weights Zoro always lifted for his trainings. Usopp couldn't relate to Luffy too since Luffy had easily curled his elastic hands around the barrels and lifted them. Luffy too had immense physical strength and was capable of lifting large boulders, breaking stones and shattering steel with his bare hands. The sniper had totally no chance to even compare with the two insanely powerful men. Being the only man that had the closest in strength to a regular human compared to the others (like Sanji, Chopper, Zoro and Luffy), Usopp had always struggled in his fights. '_I must be the weakest_…' Usopp thought about his strength in the Straw Hat crew. With a sigh, he diverted his attention to Ren as he was wondering how the woman was going to carry the barrels too. He was expecting to see the woman struggling to carry the barrel along but the barrel Ren was supposed to carry was enclosed in an air sphere and was lifted in the air.

With brows furrowing in slight irritation, Usopp exploded. "Oi, Ren!" Pointing to the barrel in the air sphere, he continued, "How is that carrying with your hands?!"

"Hm?" The said woman only gave him a bored look in question, "Cos' I'm a woman…"

"As if THAT is answering my question!"

"W-why are so a-abusive…" To that, Ren began to cover her face with her hands and faked her sobbing.

"Oi oi… Y-you know I don't mean it like that… Hey…" The long-nosed man panicked as he tried to comfort the blue head.

Withdrawing her hands from her face, Ren jerked her head up to face Usopp. "Hm, baka… You should be grateful that I even bother to help you carry one barrel. Or do you prefer carrying the remaining two barrels by yourself? Hm," Flipping her hair over her shoulder dramatically, Ren rolled her eyes and smirked at the sniper. "Come on. Let's get moving~"

Realising he was being fooled by the blue head yet again, Usopp got annoyed. "Then why not carry the last barrel too? Since you are already levitating one in the air with you…"

To that, Ren had paused her steps and turned. Putting on a wide mocking smile with her eyes narrowed into slits, Ren answered the sniper. "Cos' it is fun to see you have a hard time~" With that, Ren continued her track on the beach.

Usopp was speechless. He stared at the back of Ren. He should have expected that. That sadistic woman would not give him a rest as long as she could see him suffer. He could not help but wonder why his life was so hard. He broke out of his self-empathy moment when someone bumped into his shoulder. Looking to his side, he saw Zoro giving him a smirk. '_He must have been proud to have fallen for such woman…_' Hugging the last barrel to his chest, Usopp struggled to catch up with rest of the group as they made their way across the beach to the only pathway which led them further into the island.

The pathway had led them through a small forest. So far, they filled up two large sacks with the fruits they had collected from the trees for the past hour. The sacks were then enclosed in the same air sphere and levitated to follow them thanks to Ren's ability. As they continued their way further down the forest, Usopp couldn't help but ponder about the sweet scent that had lingered in the air. It wasn't the scent of the ripened fruits so he couldn't tell what the cause was. Adjusting the barrel, Usopp tugged it under his left underarm and sped up to match the group's pace.

Closing his eyes and sniffling numerous times and each time longer than the previous, Usopp could tell the sweet scent was much stronger than before. Letting his eyes dart around the forest to identify the cause, Usopp questioned the rest in puzzlement.

"Hey guys! Is it just me or that the sweet scent is getting stronger and stron-"

The sniper was cut off from his sentence when he collided to the back of Luffy.

"Oi! What-"

Usopp stared at his captain. Luffy had his eyes wide opened and saliva overflowing his mouth. Usopp slowly sidestepped his captain so that Luffy no longer blocked his view. Raising his head to greet the scene before him, Usopp had expected plenty of meat in front of them seeing that Luffy had the same reaction whenever meat was involved. However, what greeted him was not what he had expected…

* * *

A/N: And I will cut you off right there! How is the story so far? Do leave a comment to tell me how you find it…


	12. Silent Predator Part 2

A/N: Took me a while to update. Originally, I wanted to stop writing this story… Mainly because I found this story really really really lacking… I have read other fanfics (non-OP) for the past few days and they are all damn good. I can't help but compare mine with theirs… And seriously, I felt so depressed… I know this story is going damn slow… like slow slow… and it's boring… I'm not sure whether I will continue the story in the future… I guess it depends on my mood…

And I am planning to switch this story to a **mild 'Zoro x OC'** instead. Coz' seriously I don't know how to write it without sounding stupid… I will try though…

ANYWAY, as to '**Do you want Ace to survive at the end of Marine Ford Arc?**' question, here's the response(s).

**YES – 1**

**NO – 0**

Please tell me what you think! I will really appreciate it!

* * *

Chapter 12 – _Silent Predator Part 2_

**First group (Nami, Robin, Sanji and Chopper)**

The pirate ship before them was about the same size as Going Merry. It was a simple white and black pirate ship with an eagle as a figurehead, and a pair of yellow talons on each side. All the sails were secured to the yards by the ropes. On the top of each mast, there stood the flag of the pirate crew. The flag was a standard Jolly Roger with large hooked beak, with the word 'Baldy' written on it.

"B-baldy? Baldy Pirates? Who name themselves baldy?" The user of Hito Hito no Mi titled his head and eyed the pirate flag in disbelief.

Lighting up a cigarette to take a puff, Sanji took a look at the same pirate flag. Blowing a cloud of smoke, the blonde cook muttered to himself, though it was loud enough to be heard by the rest of the group. "Baldy-la Eagle… Its meat is delicious, crispy like waygu beef with a taste similar to ootoro sushi and can be used to make excellent soup stock…" Influx of ideas to cook the large bird was on Sanji's mind.

Hearing the cook's analysis, the raven archaeologist simple giggled before expressing her thought. "Probably the crew are a group of baldies…"

Face-palming, the orange-haired woman directed back to the pirate ship in front of them. "Let's start by searching this ship since the crew aren't present at all…" The navigator observed that the ship of the Baldy Pirates had been void of people ever since they arrived the island an hour ago. She wanted to ransack the ship to claim all the treasures found by the other pirates. To the experienced cat burglar, there was a higher chance of discovering treasures from another active pirate ship than those sunken ships. She wasn't sure how long the Baldy Pirates had been on the island so every second counted.

"Let's spread out!" Understanding that the other three had never robbed another ship before, Nami gave a very vague instruction to them. The last thing the orange head wanted was to miss out any of her precious treasures. "Seek out any useful items and gather them at the main deck before we move them back to Going Merry! We have to move fast before the crew return!"

"Aye Nami-swan!"

* * *

**With Robin**

**Captain's room**

The first room that the raven woman had walked in was the Captain's room. It was located on the main deck and right above the room was the forecastle deck. Robin allowed her eyes to gaze around the room. The room was slightly bigger than the men's room on Going Merry though it didn't seem like it. It was clustered with many items and dirty clothes that there was hardly any space for the archaeologist to walk. Robin had guessed that this room she was at was probably the largest room on this ship. She had joined so many pirate crews in the past to escape the Marines that she knew that the pirate captain would always want the best for themselves and leave the second best for his subordinates. And certainly, the captain for the Baldy Pirates also chose this large room for himself. Luffy was probably the only exception so far, seeing that the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates to share a room with four other members.

There was a bed located at the left side of the room, against the wall. The bed sheets were rumpled and there seemed to be many dark stains everywhere. The bed sheets which Robin suspected to be white in colour had turned yellowish and greyish in colour. It was obvious that the bed sheets had been there for a long time and wasn't changed despite the presence of many stains.

Above the headboard of the dirty bed was a wanted poster. The poster picture depicted a man in his late thirties grinning viciously. He had black hair on the sides of his head, and was bald on top. He had a tuft of hair sticking up at the back of his head in a topknot. He had thick black eyebrow sand a long, thick black moustache. He also had a single large scar on his head and prominent wrinkles on his forehead. The man was named Joji and was given a high bounty of 45,000,000 beli. If Robin guessed correctly, this man on the poster would be the owner of this room and the captain of the Baldy Pirates. It seemed like what she had said earlier was probably true too. This crew was probably made up of a group of baldies.

There were many rectangular chests lying all over the floor. Piled on the top of the chests, there were empty beer bottles and mugs that the captain didn't even bother to dispose of properly. There were also many delicate items like antique clocks and ships miniatures though most of them were probably broken, judging from the cracks all over them. Kicking the items lying on the floor to the side, Robin made her way into the room. Heading straight to the centre of the room, Robin ran her fingers across the exquisite jewellery box that had crystals decorated on the box. Judging from the intricate patterns on the jewellery box, it was probably belonged to a certain royal family hundreds of years ago. Lifting the lid of the box up, as Robin had suspected, there was many gold coins and jewels stored inside. The corner of her lips lifted. This would be able to satisfy a certain navigator. Holding onto the jewellery box so that Robin could surrender it to Nami, she let her eyes floated to the book shelves on the right side of the room. She had made her way in front of the shelves and let her eyes scanned through the numerous book titles. It was a mess, to put it simply. The books were chunked on to the shelves disorderly; some were placed upright and some were just stacked into a pile. Most of the books were in poor conditions as the spine and many pages were torn. Despite the defective state, some books still managed to catch the attention of the raven woman. Grabbing a clean sack from the mess on the floor, Robin began to select the books that she wanted. To the archaeologist who loved reading, this couldn't have been better.

* * *

**With Sanji**

**Kitchen**

When the group had dispersed to search each corner of the ship for treasures, Sanji had made his way to the kitchen. To the blonde cook, a kitchen was a holy ground to him. Despite being very amorous toward women, he still had his pride as a chef. His respect toward food and the preparation of food in the kitchen was strong. Since food and sustenance played a crucial role in maintaining life, he strongly believed that a chef's work must be treated as though it was sacred. Prior to being stranded on the rock with Zeff nine years ago, Sanji had always thought food was dispensable, and tossed out any that had gone bad. In fact, he had felt disgusted by how his fellow chefs would eat leftovers from customers. However, after being starved on the rock, he had come to regret his maltreatment to food. That was why he would become hostile toward those who wasted food or regarded it in any way that was less than his respect for it. So imagine the horror and anger Sanji felt when he stepped into the kitchen.

To the left of the kitchen was the cooking zone where the stoves were located. Speaking of stoves, the stoves in this kitchen were all covered in grease. The hood was also built up with stains and the vents were clogged. It was obvious that whoever was in charge of food preparation hadn't clean the exterior of the hood and the filters for a very long time. Next to it was the clean-up zone where the sinks were located. There wasn't any improvement at all. The sinks were fully filled with unclean dishes and utensils. The unfinished leftovers had also dried up and were stuck on the surfaces. On the table top were many leftover ingredients. There were many fish bones that still had some flesh remaining. There were also vegetables like tomatoes and cabbages that were only half-used. Sanji would have been able to make several dishes from the leftovers like what he had done when he was at G8's kitchen. If only the leftovers weren't rotting already.

Gritting his teeth tightly, Sanji tried to keep his temper under control. The state of this kitchen was horrendous. Whoever was in charge of this kitchen should be ashamed. Ignoring all the mistakes that the irresponsible chef had made, Sanji made his way to where the refrigerator was located. Surely the state of the food in the fridge would not be as bad as the kitchen, right?

Opening the door of the fridge, Sanji was bombarded by a strong rotten odour. The source was from the rotting poultry and vegetables. God, even with refrigerator which helped to lengthen the shelf life of the ingredients, the food weren't in a good condition at all. It seemed like it had been at most three to four weeks since the crew last used the fridge. Now that Sanji thought of it, he had this weird feeling lingering at the back of his mind… '_Have they left their ship vacant for that long_?'

Shaking the unneeded thought away, Sanji made his way to his last stop. It was a medium-sized cabinet with glass shelves and wooden drawers. Pulling the glass door of the shelves open, Sanji picked up one of the jars that contained the spices. Sniffing the scent of the spice that he was holding, Sanji then dipped his little finger into the jar to have a taste. _'Good, this one is still in good condition… As for the rest…' _The cook did the same for the rest of the spice jars. Fishing out a rather clean looking sack from the corner of the kitchen where all the rations were situated, Sanji packed the spices into the sack. He wouldn't want all this precious spices to be left here. It would have been such a waste. Sanji also took a look at the drawers. '_Ho… Graters… Beaters… all the kitchen tools…_' The drawers were filled with all kinds of kitchen tools. Despite collecting a layer of dust, the tools were still in good condition. Grinning at his discovery, Sanji took a few of the tools in the drawers and placed them into the same sack. He wasn't greedy; he had only taken those that he lacked of. Though the cleanliness of the kitchen totally repulsed him, it wasn't so bad since Sanji could still fished out some useful items…

* * *

**With Chopper**

**Storage and Cannon Deck**

'_Nami instructed to seek out any useful items… Useful items… Useful….' _The toddler-sized reindeer human hybrid headed toward the hatch that was located on the main deck, right in front of the main mast. Lifting the large hatch, Chopper slowly descended to the basement of the ship and headed toward the storage deck. Standing right at the centre of the room, Chopper scanned his surrounding warily.

The cannon deck was much bigger than the one on Going Merry. Right in front and behind of him was a series of cannons lined in a file and each muzzle was projected out of a small window. There were a total of eight cannons, four on each side. There were only three cannons in total at Going Merry – one was located at their cannon deck and anchor room and was situated directly below of Merry's head; the other two were located at the storage and cannon deck at the back of the ship and were projecting from the sides.

To the left of the room were numerous crates stacked against each other. Shifting to his human form, his Hito Hito no Mi gave him the height and the strength required to pry open the lids of the crates. Prying the lids off carefully, Chopper took a look what was inside of each crate. '_Cannonballs… Cannonballs… and more cannonballs… How about this? Gunpowder and more of them…_' The crates that were stacked on the left side of the room consisted of all cannonballs and gunpowder. Lifting two crates of cannonballs and gunpowder each, Chopper placed it on the centre of the room. If Chopper recalled correctly, they hadn't gotten the chance to restock their supplies of cannonballs and gunpowder after their departure from Sky Island and G8. This would be a great chance to restock their supplies for free.

Grinning at his smart thinking proudly, the human-sized Chopper then made his way to the opposite side of the room. On this side of the room were numerous barrels piled together. Choosing a few of the barrels to sniff on, Chopper managed to identify the barrels that were filled with beer, wine and juice. Despite not drinking beer and wine often, Chopper knew that the alcoholic drinkers like Zoro would love it very much. Once again, Chopper had collected some barrels to bring it back to Going Merry.

Heading back to the right side of the room again, Chopper opened the cupboard and took a look. On the shelves were numerous medical supplies like bandages, gauze pads, tweezers and thermometer. The doctor was very elated to see all the supplies. He was planning to stock up his supplies when they arrived at a town but it seemed like he didn't have to wait that long. Right in front of him was free supplies of medical items. He wasn't being cheapskate but money was tight on his end. With Nami managing their money, Chopper would have to pay interest for any amount he borrowed from the navigator. A major portion of his money would often be used to buy new medical books at a bookstore. And given the high tendency of the guys being injured, the bandages were always used up fast. It was mainly because of Zoro's reluctance to stay on the bed to rest. Even when he was badly injured, the green head swordsman would still push his limits by lifting super heavy weights and that caused the wounds to bleed again. More bandages were used to re-bandage the swordsman and the process was repeated a few times due to Zoro's stubbornness. To a doctor, it couldn't have been any better than to see free supplies of medical supplies.

* * *

**With Nami**

**Men's room**

Tagging behind the doctor, Nami also went down the steps to reach the basement of the ship. Heading to the opposite direction of Chopper's, the orange-haired woman found her way to the men's room.

'_God, the smell!_' Nami wrinkled her nose at the bad odour which was coming from the left side of the room. Glancing to her left, Nami's eyes met a big pile of foul-smelling clothes at the bottom corner. Within the pile were some blood-stained clothes and dirty underpants of the male pirates. Cringing in disgust, Nami pinched her nose to breathe through her mouth in attempt to cut down the terrible smell. Shifting her feet to distant herself away from the dirty pile of clothes, Nami surveyed the room once again. Just like the sleeping arrangements of the guys, there were several hammocks hanging horizontally at the left upper corner of the room. Pillows and blankets were all over the place – some had fallen off and clustered together with another pile of dirty clothes on the floor; some were left dangling over the hammocks. Right at the centre of the room, there was a large wooden cupboard that was situated against the wall. The doors of the cupboard were wide-opened. It wasn't because someone had forgotten to close it but because he couldn't. The cupboard was too occupied that the doors could no longer be closed. The clothes of the entire crew, except the captain's had been stuffed in the same cupboard and some had simply overloaded and fallen off. Right next to the foot of the cupboard were a treasure chest and a fully filled huge sack. And to the right of the room was where many barrels were stacked against the wall. This kind of explained why there were many mugs lying all over the floor.

Furrowing her brows in distaste, Nami swept the obstacles on the floor away and made her way to her baby treasures. Squatting down, Nami retrieved a hair pin from her pocket. Twisting and turning to alter the shape of the pin, Nami then stuck the pin into the keyhole of the chest and started picking at it. With her experience at picking locks, it was simply a piece of cake to the cat burglar. Within seconds, Nam managed to bypass the lock of the treasure chest. Removing the lock, Nami lifted the lid of the treasure chest. '_Bingo!' _Staring at the mass of shiny golden coins and artefacts, Nami grinned in victory. The huge sack that was next to the chest had also contained a whole lot of gold. Bombarded by the whole pile of gold, Nami grinned from ear to ear and her eyes lit up with beli signs. It was heaven to the woman!

Snapping out of her daydreams, Nami grabbed the sack and dragged it toward the door.

_Creak_.

'_Hm?_' Back tracking a step, Nami lifted her foot and took a step forward again.

_Creak_.

There was the sound again. And it was only this spot that gave out the creaking sound. Kicking the mess to the sides, Nami bent down to observe the same spot. Knocking against the wooden floor, Nami could hear the difference between normal wooden floor and hollow ones. Examining closely, Nami managed to extract a small part of the wooden plank to reveal a hidden location. To her surprise, she found more gold. It seemed like the members of the crew liked to keep some of the treasures for themselves and had hidden them. By trial and error, Nami managed to dig out most of the hidden spots where the more treasures were.

Hidden in the fillings of a pillow.

Hidden in a barrel.

Hidden underneath the cupboard.

Hidden behind a painting on the wall.

'_Hehe… They are so sly_… _No matter, no treasure can escape from me…_' Stuffing the newly found gold into the treasure chest, Nami then made her way to drag her harvest to the exit, hoping that either Sanji or Chopper would be free to help her lift them up to the main deck.

* * *

**Main deck**

"Thanks Sanji-kun and Chopper!" Patting their shoulder in appreciation, Nami then shifted her attention to the items the rest had gathered from other parts of the ship. She froze.

Turning her head towards the cook and the doctor, Nami put on a strained smile. "S-sanji-kun… Chopper… What is this?"

"Oh Nami-swan! I have managed to seek out more spices and -" Nami tuned Sanji out and focused on Chopper's explanation.

"Erm, you said to seek out any useful items… There wasn't any treasure in the storage deck, so I have only brought some barrels and medical supplies…" The hybrid looked down at his feet as he muttered. Drawing circles with his hands, Chopper anticipated scolding from the navigator but he got a pat on his head. Peeking from underneath his hat, Chopper eyed the orange head.

"It's okay Chopper! You did your best! Well, people don't just hide their treasures everywhere… And I did mention any useful items so you both did great!"

At her phrase, the blonde cook began to blabber on and on about his love for the navigator and the hybrid did his 'old man' dance in embarrassment. Turning around, Nami stopped in surprise when a delicate jewellery box was presented to her by the raven woman. Eyeing the expensive looking artefact in joy, the orange head hugged Robin to show her appreciation.

"Thanks Robin! I know I can always count on you!" To which, Robin only giggled in response and patted Nami's back.

"Okay, with that done, let's move all the stuff back to Merry! We still have other ships to raid!" Nami ordered.

* * *

A/N: I will just end here. Next chapter will be on the second group! What will they find? What is waiting for them?

I promise that it will be more interesting than this chapter, I think... Remember to vote and leave a review if possible! Thanks!


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